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N.B transportation cuts hurting road building industry

September 25, 2013  By Rock to Road


September 25, 2013, Fredericton, N.B. – A dramatic drop in
the budget of the New Brunswick Ministry of Transportation is putting road
builders out of work according to the New Brunswick Road Builders and Heavy
Construction Association.

September 25, 2013, Fredericton, N.B. – A dramatic drop in
the budget of the New Brunswick Ministry of Transportation is putting road
builders out of work according to the New Brunswick Road Builders and Heavy
Construction Association.

Tom McGinn, the executive director of the NB RBHCA,
estimates that about 1,000 jobs directly and indirectly involved with highway
and road infrastructure have been lost in the last few years thanks to a
dramatic reduction in the province’s transportation budget.

The department’s budget was $466.3 million in 2010-11 but fell
to $269.7 million in 2012-13, representing a 41 per cent drop in just two
years.

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New Brunswick’s Auditor General, Kim MacPherson, stated last
December that delays to maintenance of the province’s 18,749 kilometres of
roads and 2,600 bridges could cost five to six times what the repairs would
cost right now.

Transportation Minister Claude Williams suggested that he
too would like to see an increase in funding for provincial road repairs, but
that such an increase could be difficult since budgets are currently very
tight.

The 2013-2014 New Brunswick budget is set to be presented in
December.

Source: The Canadian Press


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