Saint John — Summer is here, and the seasonal road maintenance work is in full swing across the province. The work has led to road closures in several high-traffic areas in most cities, inconveniencing many who say they now find it difficult to get around.
This issue is only expected to compound as construction begins to move directly into people’s homes, as was announced earlier this month.
The work has extended into just a few houses so far, though many more are expected to undergo construction in the coming weeks.
“They start crowding into my room at 6 o’clock in the morning,” said homeowner Andrew Bauer, one of the first residents effected. “Which is incredibly early if you, like me, are unemployed.”
While Bauer does find it disconcerting that the workers have not told him to what end the construction is being done, he finds it doubly annoying that he is no longer able to freely navigate his own home.
“One of the first things they did was dig this massive hole in the middle of my living room,” he told The Manatee. “I have to take a detour through the laundry room, an extended hallway and two closets just to get from one side of the kitchen to the other.”
There is also, he added, the issue of the workers themselves. Bauer described their pace as “leisurely,” and their workmanship as “shoddy.”
“You walk two feet into the entryway, which they assure me is ‘completed,’ and you’re bound to stub your toe on a loose nail or a raised pothole,” he said.
Hoping to scale back the extent of the work being done inside his home, Bauer called the New Brunswick Historical Society to complain, hoping that they’d move to declare his house a “historical landmark.”
They agreed, and after a brief legal battle, a city landmark was declared and construction was halted within the house.
“That’s the good news,” said Bauer. “The bad news is — every time I take a shit, I get a $200 fine.”