Snowplows will not clear the Larlee family’s road this winter
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A family from rural New Brunswick may have to find a new way of having the 200-metre road to their home cleared this winter.
Adam and Alexandria Larlee, who live in Juvenile Settlement about an hour away from Saint John, N.B., received notice from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure that they won’t receive snow removal services this year.
The government measure only affects the Larlee family, and the roadway is the only way in or out of the property.
Snow and ice has already piled up, and leaving it uncleared has proven hazardous.
“It’s kind of scary because if we get any more significant snowfall, we’re going to lose access to emergency services,” Adam told CBC. “Our kids have to go down to the mailbox to get picked up by a van that takes them to the school bus. And our daughter has already slipped on this road and hurt herself.”
Government snowplows have cleaned the road for last 50 years, the family says.
The area is now, however, unsafe for snowplows, the government claims.
“Last year, trucks were not able to turn around in your yard and as such were forced to back out resulting in multiple incidents where trucks fell off the drive way and needed to be towed out,” Kevin Richard, district engineer with the provincial government, told the family in an email, CBC reported.
The Larlees would have to provide an area where the snowplows could safely turn around in order resume receiving snow removal services, the email said.
The family, who raises goats and chickens, keeps farm equipment out of an area specifically for snowplows to turn around, Alexandria told CBC.
A local representative is trying to keep the Larlees’ road serviced for this year.
“That’s my attempt,” Jeff Carr, the MLA for New Maryland-Sunbury, told CBC. “That’s my goal, is to have him serviced by (the transportation ministry) for the rest of this year.”
The family and province will have to find a permanent solution after the winter, Carr said.
Farms.com has reached out to the Larlee family for comment.
The Larlee family's road/Shane Fowler/CBC photo