Minister addresses repairs on Route 440

Tom Rideout, Minister of Transportation and Works, today addressed the department�s assessment of Route 440 in Bay of Islands District.

Minister Rideout said that a senior official from the Department of Transportation and Works was in the Corner Brook area last Friday and made an assessment of the north shore road in Bay of Islands District, as he said would be done.

�I am advised by the senior engineer who assessed this road that there is some need for repairs, but with nowhere near the urgency claimed by the MHA,� said the minister. �I understand the section of road in question is less than 100 metres in length and, while some settlement has occurred over the past couple of years, the repair required could easily be handled through our annual summer maintenance program.

�This is a message I would have quickly delivered directly to the MHA had he approached myself and the department in an appropriate fashion.�

The minister maintains that his officials in the area will go to work immediately to have this issue addressed.

�A letter is far from the best means of having a situation addressed with urgency,� said the minister. �If Mr. Joyce had been interested in having this situation addressed quickly, he could have called myself or my senior staff.

�If he had chosen this route, this issue would have been addressed weeks ago.�

Media contact: Lori Lee Oates, ABC, Communications, (709) 729-1758, 690-8403

2005 08 16                     12:00 p.m.