Frequently Asked Questions for Public Works

How can I contact the Department of Infrastructure and Public Works after hours?

Phone:  (506) 372-3243

If you require the assistance of the Department of Infrastructure and Public Works after regular business hours, please leave a message with your name, address, a brief description of the emergency, along with your contact number as this line is being monitored by staff.

Potholes

What causes potholes?

Streets tend to show their age in various ways, the most common sign being a pothole. Typical causes are pavement cracking combined with heavy traffic. Cracks allow water to get under the asphalt, and when the water freezes during winter, it expands to four times its volume creating pressure on the surface. In springtime, when the ice and snow melts, the water seeps out, leaving a hollow hole under the street surface. When vehicles go over these sections, asphalt crumbles and potholes are born.

How are potholes repaired?

Because asphalt plants don’t open until the end of April, and potholes start forming with the return of milder weather, we apply cold patch asphalt, which fills the potholes until they can be fixed permanently. Once asphalt plants open, contractors are scheduled to fix potholes more permanently.

Who do I contact regarding Provincial Highways?

Salisbury’s Main Street (Route 106), Fredericton Road (Route 112), and River Road (also Route 112) are all Provincially Designated Highways, the ownership and maintenance of which lies with the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI).

DTI, at the present time, is also continuing to maintain all roads located in the municipality outside the former village limits; that is, the roadways in Wards 1, 2, and 4 (all former local service districts).

Any complaints or concerns regarding these NB routes and roads located in Wards 1, 2, and 4 must be directed to DTI or to your MLA.

The three MLAs representing the greater Salisbury area are:
– Mike Holland (a portion of Ward 2, all of Ward 3 (former Village limits), and most of Ward 4 (contact information))
– Ross Wetmore (most of Ward 1, a portion of Ward 2, and a small portion of Ward 4 (contact information))
– Sherry Wilson (a portion of Ward 1 (contact information)).
*MLA Map*
*Salisbury Ward Map*

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure can be reached by phoning 1-833-384-4111 (dispatch line) or by emailing transportnb@gnb.ca.

Can I have a garbage bin for the end of my driveway?

Salisbury does not currently have a By-Law prohibiting the use of “rural style” garbage bins. The Municipality is not responsible for any damage to unauthorized structures which have been erected by property owners within the public right-of-way.

This is not to say that the Municipality does not make every possible attempt to avoid such structures during any roadway maintenance activity.   The Local Government, as well as our Winter maintenance contractor, makes every reasonable attempt to avoid damaging or disturbing rural mail boxes, civic address numbers, and roadside garbage bins; however, the primary focus of snow-clearing operations is to make public roads passable in order to reestablish safe travel to motor vehicles. Should damage occur to any of these structures, the Municipality assumes no responsibility.

With respect to any obstruction within the public right-of-way of Municipal and/or Provincial roads (i.e. rural mailboxes, garbage bins, basketball nets, etc.) they would be subject to the following sections under the New Brunswick Highway Act:

44.1(15)    If a person has erected or placed or is erecting or placing any object or thing on, over, under,across or along a highway, has repaired or maintained or is repairing or maintaining such an object or thing, has excavated, mined or quarried or is excavating, mining or quarrying under, across, through or along a highway or has used or is otherwise using a highway, in contravention of subsection (12) or (13), the Minister may by order direct that any such object or thing be disassembled, demolished, modified, relocated or removed and that the highway and the land on, over or under which the highway is situated be restored to its original condition or to such other condition as the Minister directs.

69(1)    A person commits an offence who

(a)     erects, places, puts or maintains any building, structure, gasoline pump, lumber, logs, stones, refuse, snow or other encumbrance or obstruction over or upon any highway,

It is the Municipality’s opinion that “private garbage bins are not essential to the collection of blue and green streams of waste and that any property owner who wishes to erect such a structure, either within or in close proximity to the Municipal or Provincial right-of-way, does so at their own risk.”