Rough road ahead

Bethesda Road resident Milt Dulmage on a section of his road that is rapidly deteriorating back to a gravel road. That would be acceptable to him, but only if the County will maintain it.

County roads are bad, and getting worse

Roads are a mess in Prince Edward County. From Long Point Road in South Marsyburgh to Rednersville Road in Ameliasburgh, County roads are crumbling and disintegrating. A long cold winter surely contributed to a worsening of rural road conditions, but the problems go deeper.

In 1997 and 1998, the province downloaded responsibility for many County roads to this municipality, as it did across Ontario. But rural communities such as PrinceEdwardCounty were ill-equipped to assume the responsibility for maintaining these roads, let alone replace them. Neither do they have the tax base to fund their upkeep.

For a few years following downloading, the province provided money to municipalities to pay for road and bridge repairs. Loyalist Parkway was rehabilitated, some bridges were replaced and other repairs were made on a project-by-project basis. But that money has mostly dried up in recent years as the province’s fiscal challenges have become more evident and now pose a significant threat to the Ontario’s credit rating.

The County’s leaders attempted to make do as best they could. A poorly conceived plan to borrow money to fund the improvement of many County roads in order to reap future maintenance savings—left the municipality with an $11 million debt and roads as poor or in poorer condition than ever. In fact, rural roads paved under this plan are among the worst in the County, and many will likely revert back to gravel roads over the next decade.

Milt Dulmage has watched his road deteriorate steadily for a long time. He has lived on Bethesda Road—linking Highway 49 and Fish Lake Road—for 36 years. Last week, County roads crews arrived, not to fix his road but to install “Rough Roads Ahead” signs.

He’d had enough.

Dulmage came to a committee of council last Thursday, wanting to know when his road would be repaired. He had checked with one of his two councillors in Sophiasburgh and learned his road wasn’t even on the list of road projects scheduled over the next two years.

Roads crews fill in potholes on a near weekly basis, according to Dulmage.

“My taxes keep going up,” said Dulmage, “but I’m not getting a good bang for my buck.”

Sophiasburgh councillor Kevin Gale asked roads chief Robert McAuley to explain how his department develops its road repair list—what determines the ranking for road and bridge repairs.

McAuley explained that a variety of factors go into the decision-making process about which roads to invest repair and rehabilitation funds. These factors include the condition of the road, the use of the road (a highly used arterial road or a seldom passed rural road), and the available dollars.

“Our wish list far exceeds our dollars,” noted McAuley.

McAuley explained that Bethesda is rated a three in terms of its condition—one being unusable, ten being in perfect condition.

“Sadly, we have roads worse than Bethesda,” he said.

In fact, 40 per cent of the County roads are rated three or worse. None are rated 10.

He noted however, that given the scarce funding available, it is an unwise investment to put these dollars into the worst roads—but rather, that these funds are better spent salvaging the County’s better quality roads. A million dollars goes much further in maintaining roads rated 7 to 9, than rebuilding those rated one or two.

“Ultimately, the decision comes down to the life cycle of the road and the return on investment we hope to achieve,” said McAuley.

Councillor Gale asked Dulmage if he was prepared see his road downgraded.

“I’d be happy with a gravel road,” said Dulmage. “As long as it was maintained.”

But no one was in a position to offer the Bethesda Road resident even that assurance.

This is because the County can’t afford its roads. The County estimates it would cost about $570 million to replace its roads and bridges. Assuming a lifecycle of 20 years—the municipality would have to spend $28 million per year on reconstruction, forever.

That’s about an average $2,000 annual tax increase for every household in PrinceEdwardCounty. Forever.

At best the County can only pick a small number of projects from a long and growing list of necessary repairs. All others will get worse.

Yet County council seems unable to utter this fact out loud, choosing instead to muddle along in a form of denial.

NOT ALONE
Other rural communities are facing the same challenges.

In its questions to the provincial leaders, the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus (EWOC) has made roads and bridges its second priority (number one being the continuation of the return of social services costs to the province).

“Our property taxpayers are maintaining 69,000 lane-kilometres of road and 5,000 structures—this is simply not sustainable,” said Linda Thompson, EOWC Vice-Chair.

Nowhere is that more true than in Prince Edward County—yet few on council seem able to tell Mr. Dulmage or other County residents the truth.