Price tag to fix N.S. roads in the tens of millions

Nova Scotia has spent tens of millions of dollars repairing about 80 per cent of the roads washed out or damaged in the July’s floods.

“I think 60-70 million around there,” said Nova Scotia’s minister of public works Kim Masland, while speaking with reporters on Thursday. “But again, we are not finished with all of the work.”

On Friday, a provincial spokesperson said approximately 17 provincial roads remain closed and another 22 are damaged but open--meaning they’re passable with caution or open to one lane.

When the province was hit with about three-months-worth of rain on July 21 and 22, roads caved, water cascaded down the shoulders like waterfalls and driveways became dugouts.

The flood punched holes in pavement across Nova Scotia, including in two spots along the path to Peggy’s Cove. What was first filled with gravel was just repaved this week.

Zachery Rouse lives nearby. He said he would constantly hear people scratching their cars due to a drop in the road.

“But it’s fixed now which is nice, after a few weeks,” said Rouse.

“One of the neighbours helped too. He came by at least three times to fill it in himself with gravel just because he kept noticing people scratching their cars.”

More than 130 roads have reopened since July 21-22.

A provincial spokesperson estimates about 80 per cent of the work has been completed. Still pylons dot the province to warn drivers about drop offs or other problems, such as along Highway 103 where the shoulder crumbled.

“You still see a lot of ruts and stuff and culverts laying on the side of the road but they’re seeing to it,” said Lee Dean, who drives around the province a lot while working for a heat pump business.

From Windsor Junction, to Bedford and Chester there is still much to fix. While crews work on fixing one bridge in the Chester-area, another very old bridge is still closed.

“The amount of water that was coming off the lake that’s behind us pushed the keystones that are holding up the bridge out,” said Dan Kershaw, who lives beside the stone bridge.

“We have completed a tremendous amount of work,” said Masland, noting shoulder damage still needs to be fixed and the province is focused on replacing bridge structures.

“Any road that was an asphalt road and was washed away and we put gravel down there just to make it passable to be able to get to work, go get to school, obviously we’re going to go back and repair those,” she said.

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