Gravel Road Funding

Excerpts from the March 5, 2020 Hansard records (Committees of the Whole House - Supply)
Nova Scotia Legislature - Hansard Transcript (nslegislature.ca)
​Our $400 million investment includes more than $210 million for major construction. This includes the new highways and bridges; $136 million for asphalt, resurfacing, and bridges; and $20 million for the gravel road program. I’m particularly proud of the gravel road program. I think this is an accumulation of $70 million in the gravel road program which is aimed at our rural communities since it was introduced, and it has been very successful. I think it is providing a great service for the residents of our communities, but also for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, too, to be fair, because having better roads means less maintenance for us.
 
There’s another $20 million for the Gravel Road Capital Program this year; $17.3 million for equipment, machinery, and ferries; and $7 million for land purchases. Major construction on new highways and bridges account for $100 million of the overall increase from last year with much of the additional funding focused on twinning portions of Highway Nos. 101, 103, 104, and 107 - the Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector.
 
Folks, roads are expensive. Each twin kilometre costs $3 million to $5 million, depending on the complexity of the road. An anticipated 550 kilometres of asphalt paving will be laid on roads and highways this year - 550 kilometres. I would like to highlight our $20 million annual gravel road program for the repair and reconstruction of gravel roads. Well maintained, good-quality roads are essential for rural communities. We have 8,700 kilometres of gravel roads in our province, and we need to have the ability to repair more of these roads than we have in the past. The program is a proactive approach that will build these roads to improve the structure and drainage. This will result in a longer-lasting driving surface and make regular road maintenance easier. We have 46 gravel road projects planned for this year.



The following excerpt is a conversation from the Nova Scotia legislature Hansard reports for May 14, 2008 during which the MLAs were considering the estimates of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal when the Assembly is in the Committee of the Whole and members of the Opposition are allotted time to question the minister.  (During this time the minister has key members of staff to assist in the explanation oft he numbers or policies related to the estimates).   Nova Scotia Legislature - Hansard Transcript (nslegislature.ca)

"Again continuing on roads, I want to talk a little bit about gravel roads. Again, I'm sure, as a rural MLA, and for all the rural MLAs in this House, Mr. Chairman, this is certainly an area that you receive a lot of calls about from people living on gravel roads and this is basically throughout the year. There's no particular time I guess. Of course, especially in the Spring when the roads are thawing out and getting very muddy, certainly the volume of calls increases. I guess I'm looking for information on the department's policy on gravel roads. This question has been raised many times. Does the department have a moratorium on paving gravel roads, or does the department pave? Do they pave any gravelled roads and, if so, which ones and, if not, why not? So I guess I'll start off by asking the minister if he could comment on that.
MR. SCOTT: Mr. Chairman, just for clarification I did want to mention to the honourable member that the definition of a K-class road is a listed, unmaintained road where, in special circumstances, the area manager or supervisor can spend up to $1,000 a year on it. So maybe I didn't make that quite clear, but that's the definition of a K-class road.
When it comes to gravel roads, you know, we've get a tremendous amount of calls and letters from members here in the House about gravel roads and, obviously, from both sides and a lot of constituents across the province. The opportunity for us to cost-share in gravel road pavement is obviously with the municipalities through the subdivision-type roads. So there's an opportunity for the province to take part in that. The budget was increased to $2 million, which allows municipalities to move on that initiative. I guess you could say there is an unwritten policy within the department that we're trying to, as opposed to going out and paving new gravel roads now, we're trying to maintain the paved roads we have in the province. With the increase in the price of fuel that we see, with the increase in trucking costs, the increase that we see in the tenders, it's a real challenge to try to catch up and maintain the roads we presently have.
As I mentioned the other night during estimates to the honourable member for Queens, if we did have the ability to pave more roads now, that means we would require additional operational money for maintenance over the next number of years as well. More paving would be great today, but it would also need additional dollars required to maintain those roads in the coming years.
I do want to say, as well, although I know a lot of people will build homes on gravel roads and then they become - whether it's the dust or whatever - they seek to have those roads paved. A lot of the times - I know in my own area, the OSs and the area manager will encourage people to continue to support the gravel roads in their particular area because they're able to maintain them locally as opposed to waiting for funding provincially, for capital money.
I think there are a lot of good gravel roads in Nova Scotia that are maintained well by the department staff. I know there have been cases that were brought before this House that aren't so good. I encourage those members to work with their local OSs and area managers, as I've done over the last 10 years, to encourage them, through their own maintenance money, to deal with that issue. We're doing everything we can to maintain the present paving projects we have in the province. The capital money goes to those roads, so it's very difficult to look at paving more roads now when we're doing everything we can to maintain the present number of paved roads we have today.

MR. GAUDET: Just to be clear, I understood the department does pave gravel roads, these are sometimes subdivision roads that are submitted to the department for paving, but outside of any municipal arrangements, the department has a moratorium on paving gravel roads. Am I correct to assume that? I'm just looking for clarification. Government doesn't pave any gravel roads at this time.
MR. SCOTT: I thank the honourable member for the questions, I think. Basically, I would say the honourable member is right. I won't restate everything I just said a moment ago. Obviously there will be times when there will be extenuating circumstances, or specific situations that need to be addressed; I think the honourable members knows exactly what I'm going to say, and that's the issue around O'Connell Drive where the department made a decision, for various reasons, with the school on that road. It was under provincial jurisdiction as a result of school buses trying to get into that school. All the issues were brought before the department, the department made a decision that it would pave that gravel road. I would suggest that only in very extenuating circumstances would the department, in the present day, at least, with the budgets we have, be able to consider paving gravel roads.
MR. GAUDET: Again, on gravel roads, I'm just curious if the department has a policy on grading gravel roads. The reason I'm asking this question to the minister, every Spring, late Spring and summer, Fall, I keep getting calls - I'm sure I'm not the only one getting calls - from residents who are living on gravel roads, calling to request that their road needs to be graded. These residents, I guess, they just get frustrated because every year they have to keep calling the local office to have them come out and grade their road. Sometimes their roads are usually graded in late Spring, sometimes back in the middle of the summer and then sometime in the Fall before the winter comes in. I guess I'm trying to find out from the minister, does the department have a policy on grading roads?
MR. SCOTT: Thank you to the member opposite. I would receive the same calls, over the last 10 years, that the honourable member receives as well and those same concerns and same type of questions. I can tell the honourable member that normally in the Spring, on gravel roads, depending on the weather, the department obviously would have to wait until the road was dry enough so that they actually could be graded. I think we would agree that there wouldn't be much point in grading a road that's going to be mostly mud and turning up a lot of debris in the road that otherwise wouldn't happen if the road was dry. So normally they would wait for a dry road, for the road to dry, give it a grading. Not long after that there would be chloride spread on that road and, of course, by going in and grading again right after that, you would only take the chloride off. So, hopefully, other than some patching throughout the summer, if need be, gravel patching, then it probably wouldn't be touched again until early Fall and given another grading. So I think that's probably the standard way it's done.
I know that, again, those calls I receive myself as an MLA over the years - I found it very beneficial to meet with the area manager and the OS, and I'm sure the honourable member has as well, just to go over those roads together in a vehicle, to show them what they're like, and look at the concern the people have. I know it's as much in their best interest as it is in ours, as it is in the citizens, to have these roads in as good repair as possible. My experience has been that when I work with the OS and the area manager, we can achieve the best results for the residents but, again, you know, it would depend on the weather for the year. I've had calls from people saying, why don't they get down and grade this road. It's because it has rained, probably, for two weeks before that, and it would be just nothing but mud. It's pretty difficult for staff to do, but if conditions are right, I know they do the best they can. They will do the grading and chloriding, and the grading in the Fall, before winter.

Further in the transcripts:
MS. VICKI CONRAD:  ... I know my colleague talked a lot about gravel roads so I would like to continue on in that vein just for a little bit. I have a gravel road in my riding. (...) While some of the general work to gravel roads, and that particular gravel road, is getting done, what I'm hearing is because of the quarry and the amount of traffic from the trucks bringing their materials out of the quarry, they use the Llewellyn Road as a short cut. (...)  However, what's happening, as you can imagine, is there's a lot of wear and tear on the Llewellyn Road, and there have been suggestions to me that perhaps rather than the basic grading and surfacing gravel that happens, sometimes twice yearly, that there should be a strengthening of that road base because of the wear and tear. I am wondering if you can tell me how strengthening of a road is determined over and above the maintenance that happens on gravel roads, and whether on this particular road, because of the heavy volume of the truck traffic there, how that will be determined.
MR. SCOTT: Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the honourable member for the question. I want to just say I didn't know where the Llewellyn Road was and I don't think my colleague to the left did, but I can tell you that my Director of Finance knew exactly where it was. So I was pretty impressed there, that's great.
Normally what would happen is when an area manager and the OSs are given their allotment for the year, under the RIM, if it is a gravel road, then they would be able to take the funding out of that RIM money to actually do the type of work the honourable member is talking about. I am sure the honourable member would agree that there are various levels of maintenance required on different types of roads depending on the traffic, depending on the condition of the road, depending what kind of activity may be on it, whether it is a road that is used for woods operations, obviously the weather would play a big factor in that as well. But the area manager in conjunction with the OS who receive the RIM money budget for the year would submit a list to us and the monies are allocated to the areas. They would have the discretion, I guess, to use that money as they see the need within their own area. Because it is a gravel road, it would be done locally, I guess is the answer.
MR. GAUDET: Mr. Chairman, I certainly agree with the minister. His staff can only go so far but, you know - expecting to grade a gravel road, especially after it has rained for several days, you can't allow a grader to go in there and start grading mud. That's practically impossible and sometimes, as MLAs, we do get calls, expectations from the general public, and especially from individuals living on some gravel roads. Sometimes you have to acknowledge that some of these requests, unfortunately - you have to wait until the road dries up some before you send a grader out.

​MS. CONRAD: The minister may be aware that back in 2003, the riding boundaries were changed. The riding of Lunenburg West and the riding of Queens were reconfigured. A result of that, or one of the results of that reconfiguration with the boundaries has been a challenge for me, as a member, because I am talking with two area supervisors and it appears - to be perfectly honest, I have had wonderful communication with DOT staff both in Queens County, on the Queens side, and also on the Lunenburg side, absolutely without a doubt - but it does appear that the mandates of the area supervisors are slightly different. So it is a challenge for me, as a member, to explain to residents who live in the Queens County end of the riding and to explain similar things to the member, or the residents, in the Lunenburg West end of my riding.
An example would be bush cutting. I hear many residents who call me from the Lunenburg West end of the riding and they will say, look, how come we are not getting the same type of service when it comes to bush cutting along our highways as you are getting in Queens County. I believe that the area supervisor in Queens has made a concerted effort to really move forward with bush cutting all along Highway No. 103, and also along Route 8, which is incredible. Both sides of Highway No. 103, as you leave the Lunenburg County line into Queens, look completely different than on the Lunenburg County side. There is good visibility along Route 8, and I am seeing some much-needed paving upgrades. There is also a lot of bush cutting there as well.
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I have never really asked the question of both area supervisors, you know, what is happening on our end, in the Queens County end, as opposed to what is happening on the Lunenburg County end, so I am wondering if you can tell me how that kind of meshes itself out, if you will, between two departments.
MR. SCOTT: Mr. Chairman, I thank the member opposite. I just want to say again, I want to thank the member opposite and also the member for Clare who passed along some good comments about staff because I agree totally. I've always said that the public are really not well aware of the dedicated, professional staff we have, who work in the departments, who they don't get to see very often. I know out in the ridings they do because they see the OS all the time, or they call them, but there are a lot of dedicated staff in the department, and in all the departments here. The sad part is the public don't get an opportunity to see them or know them by name and don't understand the great work they do, but I appreciate your comments and I know they do as well.
I would say, back to the honourable member's question, the honourable member's area, although under the jurisdiction of different operational supervisors, would come under the direction of one area manager. Really, the policy should be the same, the level of service should be the same throughout the honourable member's area, regardless of where the boundaries are between one OS and the other. One OS may have a different priority, one may prefer to see brush cutting and another OS may prefer to see ditching done, someone else may prefer to see shouldering or gravel patching.