Residents living east of Tawatinaw have had to wait up to three weeks to get their roads graded after recent snows.
The lack of action left the roads icy, and in some cases impassable, and had locals worried about conditions and access in case of an emergency.
“There’s not been a lot of due diligence from the county. When a bus driver phones and says ‘the roads are bad and that there’s a safety issue’ you’d expect it to be addressed, not 18 days later” said area resident Mary Ashton-Groulx.
Westlock County CAO Peter Kelly said the delay in road maintenance was partly due to the illness of the regular grader driver and no back-up driver to take his place.
But those problems also seem to be a symptom of wider issues in the area with reports that the ice blade has only been used once this winter and ongoing problems with deep ruts in the road surfaces’ and limited brush cutting of the culverts.
It’s led Ashton-Groulx to describe the area as “the forgotten corner of Westlock County.”
It wasn’t until after a number of area residents made repeated calls to the county, including Kelly and reeve Bud Massey, that action was taken.
“I phoned every second day and I kept being told ‘it’s been done, it’s done, it’s been done.’ Well if it had been done I wouldn’t be wasting my time phoning you,” said Ashton-Groulx
“I’ve got better things to do than phone every second day and say please send a grader, please send a plow.”
The recent delay in grading caused a number of incidents in the area including a school bus that couldn’t get up Township Road 613A and a resident who was forced to take the ditch when passed by an oncoming car due to lack of space, said Ashton-Groulx.
It’s also having an impact on local business with Ashton-Groulx saying she has been unable to bring in feed for her cattle this winter.
“I’ve got straw bales over by my mom’s from late October, but they’re still there because I can’t haul them out.
“I can’t possibly get anyone to haul a load of bales on that road. They can’t make it up the hill.”
The road conditions have left locals worried about what would happen in the case of an emergency with questions raised about ambulance access and how they would get out of the area in a hurry.
“I have a special needs daughter and we need the roads to be clear because at any point I we could have to go to hospital,” said area resident Danielle Simmons.
“We have had ambulances out here before and we have been lucky that the roads have been clear.”
Kelly acknowledges that there have been issues with service to the area and said the municipality would do better.
“We have been aware of that issue and the grader operator was ill and that did put a bit of a slow down to that process,” he said. “We have had some issues there and we have had our staff out there and hopefully we have been able to address those concerns.
“We have been up there over the last few days and we’ll continue to strive to do better.”
