EAST STEWIACKE, N.S.
Even idling along in first gear on his motorbike, Tony Price was getting “hammered” by the potholes on the gravel road.
After getting off early from work one day last week, Price decided to take his bike out for a spin.
Travelling at basically a walking speed along Cloverdale Road in East Stewiacke, Price said he tried to navigate the potholes as best he could. But he never anticipated the impact that sent him smashing to the ground when his front tire went into a deep pothole and turned his handlebars sideway.
“I came down pretty hard on my shoulder,” he said.
After getting checked out at the hospital, Price said he was diagnosed with a stressed shoulder joint and muscles.
“But my bike, I won’t be back on it this year, I don’t think,” he said.
Damage to his bike included a bent brake lever and handlebars, a broken foot peg and tail fairing.
“I wasn’t even in second gear. I was in first gear,” he said.
But the most frustrating and disturbing aspect of the entire incident, Price added, is he’s getting no satisfaction after repeatedly contacting the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal over the state of the road.
“I’ve been trying to get the DoT to come and at least tidy my road up a little bit for at least the past two months. I’ve called them every day for the last month, solid,” Price said.
“It’s not like it’s mediocre potholes. I mean my road is potholed from one side to the other, end-to-end for seven or 10 miles of gravel. Or what’s supposed to be gravel.”
Price said he has requested a call back from the department in response to his complaints but as yet, he’s heard nothing.
“They just keep telling me ‘yup, we’ll pass it on’,” he said. “I want somebody to explain to me, why can’t they take three hours to avoid somebody getting killed out here.”
A spokesperson for the department said the road will be dealt with, though no indication was given for when that might happen.
“Our spring grading has begun,” said Marla MacInnis, a media relations advisor with the provincial government. “Cloverdale Road will see grading this season.”
Price said he used to operate a grader for several years in Alberta and he doesn’t understand why Nova Scotia’s roads are allowed to deteriorate to the state Cloverdale Road has.
“It’s pretty sad that we even have to call them,” he said. “Our DoT, for lack of anything better to say, they have no idea what they are doing.”
