Clay Road Improvement Policy

Our clay and dirt roads need continuous improvement to meet the demands of increased traffic from population growth and tourism - and because of warmer winters due to climate change. Here are my questions on the topic of developing a comprehensive policy of when to fund the improvement of roads along the "road continuum". https://youtu.be/L_hByZ2Ok-I Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker. As our population grows, more and more people coming to the Island are choosing to live in rural areas. Often, they’re moving onto roads that didn’t have a lot of people on them before. Often, the roads are dirt roads or clay roads, and as we’ve seen recently, the winters are getting warmer due to climate change and those roads are quite often – the constituents are knee deep in mud. But it’s not just access to their homes that’s the problem; it’s the services like waste pickup, fire services, and emergency medical services that they need. An Hon. Member: Bumpy road.

Policy on improving clay roads

Mr. Trivers: Question to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure: What is the department policy for improving clay roads? Speaker: The hon. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Mr. Hudson: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and thank you, hon. member. Fantastic question. You’re absolutely right. You look at the growth population in our rural areas, certainly growth population right across the province, but certainly in our rural areas. Great spokesperson for rural PEI, the hon. member is. What we are doing on a regular basis, started by my seatmate here, is paving some of these dirt roads, which will be a process, which will be a program, I would say, that we will continue going down that road. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald, your first supplementary. Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s great that we are seeing maintenance on some of these clay roads, and we’re seeing some of the clay roads even paved. That’s good. But what I would like to see is a comprehensive policy that looks at the continuum of a road and how it goes from basically a trail used by farmers to reach their fields, that goes to a road that is a little better maintained, that might be just a clay road that is graded, that goes to a gravel road that’s got the full 33-foot right of ways, and eventually goes to paved, and at what milestones the decision is made to move that road to the next level, and the funding along with it. Question to the minister of transportation: Will you commit to developing a comprehensive policy that has specific milestones of when to move a road along the road continuum? Some Hon. Members: Speaker: The hon. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Mr. Hudson: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ll have to be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard that phrase, “road continuum”; may become part of our vocabulary in the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. But I think with that, it’s an excellent point. I think as we look forward to a population growth strategy, where our population is growing at, that it has to be a continuum, as the member has said, but that’s developed not only within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure but also with other departments, as well, such as housing, looking at where the housing needs, things along that line. But yes, we do need to look at this as our population grows, where that population is going to be at, and where our road infrastructures need to be improved upon. Thank you. Speaker: The hon. Member from Rustico-Emerald, your second supplementary. Mr. Trivers: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ll take that as a yes, you’re going to develop a policy that looks at the road continuum and when you go from one phase to the other, things like the population living on the road, the traffic count on the road, and these sorts of things that give specific criteria of when you’re going to move. But in the meantime, we have people that are living on clay roads and they really aren’t getting the services they need, right from waste pickup to fire services and emergency medical services. I’m hoping that it’s in the upcoming budget here. I know that a previous minister a couple of Ministers ago said, “I don’t care if it’s in the budget. I’m going to get a special warrant. I’m going to make sure we pave the roads that need to be paved.” I’m hoping you have that kind of leadership over there as well. Speaker: Do you have a question?

Funding to improve clay roads

Mr. Trivers: The question to the minister is: Will you commit to empowering your maintenance folks, who would dearly love to maintain these roads, and giving them the funding they need to make sure you improve these clay roads in the upcoming season? Leader of the Opposition: Just say yes. Speaker: The hon. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. Mr. Myers: Let us know a little bit of detail. Mr. Hudson: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I didn’t hear the announcement a couple of minutes ago from my seat mate – An Hon. Member: Three or four years ago. Mr. Hudson: – but could have been two or three years ago. But with that, certainly, you look at what we have done. The previous administration, to the best of my knowledge, did not upgrade, did not pave some of the roads that were so necessary to have paved. We have started down that road, we will continue down that road, and yes, we will continue to upgrade our clay roads with gravel, with the necessary materials so that Islanders have road structure, the infrastructure that they so deserve. Thank you.