CHRIS LOWREY
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC Aug. 14, 2019
The Eardley-Masham Road will remain closed until “late fall” after being washed out in April during the spring floods, according to . . .
Ministry of Transport (MTQ) spokesperson Rosalie Faubert.
The road was washed out when a massive hole opened up on the roadway on April 19 and has been closed ever since.
Municipality of Pontiac Mayor Joanne Labadie said the job to replace the culverts that were washed away is now out to tender.
While she said it’s frustrating that the repairs have taken so long, those working at the municipality understand the trying circumstances involved.
“As a municipality that has been struggling with all the fallout and getting our roads repaired after the flooding, we can understand as well that the Ministry of Transport is struggling in the same way,” Labadie said.
Labadie said that because the Eardley-Masham Road is considered a Class 3 road in the eyes of the MTQ, it wasn’t as high of a priority as other projects like the culvert replacement on Hwy. 148.
This isn’t the first time the Eardley-Masham Road has been affected by flooding.
In April of 2016, heavy rains washed out a section of the roadway, which forced its closure. A replacement culvert was installed and the road was reopened about a month after the closure.
Labadie said that a section of the road is still down to one lane after the heavy rains that fell on Oct. 29 and 30 of 2017 – the same storm that washed out a massive section of Alary Road – washed out another section of the road.
“Its going on two years now that we’ve been waiting,” Labadie said.
It’s not clear if the most recent culvert washout is in the same stretch as the previous one.
To make matters worse, Labadie said there are several families whose children go to high school in Masham, which means their morning commute will take significantly longer with the detour route.
