Aylesford Road work gets community OK - for now

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

With one year of road work under its belt, the Department of Transportation is retiring for the winter to work on the 2008 plan for the Aylesford Road.

Residents and travellers through Lake Paul and East Dalhousie area communities are anxious to see the momentum continue after two years of hard work - and decades of concern - to see a start this past summer.

“I think everyone is pleased with the new product,” says East Dalhousie Community Club president Arthur Wilson.

“We’d like to see three of four years of work.”

Summer resident Jim Mailman of Coldbrook goes further: “The road is beautiful.

“They’ve done a job I’ve never seen done before.”

Mailman and Wilson both commented on the department of Highways’ work over the six kilometre stretch from the East Dalhousie corner north: crews laid inches of gravel on top of existing pavement and then paved right over top.

Kings West MLA Leo Glavine, who worked with the community to get the department’s initial attention and then a commitment for the work, calls it a “sandwich process.

“It appears to be good work, and should have a 20- to 25-year lifecycle,” Glavine says.

He and the community agree they will continue to work together to hold the department to its plan to upgrade another six to eight kilometres next year.

“There are over 30 kilometres to the Valley, and it looks like a longer period of time to see it all done - that would be my push.”

Glavine acknowledges this year’s work went over its $1.3 million budget with extra culverts, ditching, shouldering and driveway work. Next year’s work plan could be as expensive. After that, tests and reports done two years ago indicate less intensive resurfacing could upgrade stretches of the road in better condition.

Glavine is also working now with residents of North River Road along Aylesford lake, and there are hopes to have a 3.2 kilometre stretch in perpetually bad condition addressed in next year’s provincial roads budget.