Snowclearing cuts pose 'serious risk' to drivers, after years of neglect: NAPE

Cutbacks to snowclearing servicesare putting Newfoundland and Labrador drivers at risk, according to the union that represents highway maintenance workers.

Jerry Earle, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Asssociation of Public and Private Employees, says it takes too long to call in extra crews after a storm.

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"Snow plow operators need to be reached at home, they need to head into the depots on unsafe roads to get to work, and then they need to get the plow ready and out on the road. This not only poses health and safety concerns, but it creates a lag in response time," said Earle in a news release Wednesday.

"We also have concerns for the snow plow operators that are being kept on from the day shift as they are on the road for extended periods of time. We are hearing that some operators are already starting to get burnt out."

Broken machinery, years of neglect

Earle said 24-hour snowclearing has been reduced to an on-call service on 13 routes, including major arteries such as PittsMemorial Drive, the Outer Ring Road, and sections of the Trans-Canada near Clarenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, Corner Brook and Stephenville.

Acting Transportation Minister Eddie Joyce told CBC News Tuesday that extra crewscan be on the job within 30 minutes, claiming"the roads are being cleared as they were prior to the budget. There has been no change."

On Wednesday he added that if a significant storm wasforecast, crews would be called into the depot ahead of time.

"From my understanding, the same level of machinery is in place," he said.

However, Earledisputed Joyce's claims, saying "people of the province have seen through this falsehood." He wants 24-hour service reinstated.

Hesaid the most recent cuts are compounded by a lack of staff in some areas, and the number of plows and machinery that have been out of commission "n some cases for several months."

According to Earle, there have been years of delayed maintenance and neglect, which he said have ledto issues such as the recent sinkhole on the Trans-Canada near Holyrood.

"Our members simply have not been given the resources to provide the repair and maintenance work necessary to do the upkeep required like clearing blocked culverts to allow proper drainage, for example."

Joyce said Wednesday that the damaged culvert in Holyrood had been inspected sometime between eightto 10 years ago, but was still inside its normal life expectancy.

"There are times that circumstances arise that we can't control," he said. "And that's just one of the circumstances that we couldn't control. It just failed."