People who drive Muskeg Road are finding the going pretty rough. The road that connects Hwy. 88 and the Old Smith Highway is a low priority for the municipal district. But for the few residents who live on it, it is high priority. Two of them appeared before M.D. #124 council last week to ask for action.
“The road is so bad you wouldn’t want to drive a car on it,” said Francis Cyr. “You need a four-by-four.”
The road has a history of problems. In wet years, especially, it has much in common with the muskeg from which it got its name, and which flanks it for much of its length. The M.D. has a weight restriction on it, but Patsy Cyr said it isn’t working. Her husband added that the M.D. doesn’t do the maintenance it promises.
“We haven’t seen a grader since the snow went,” he said. “We haven’t had any gravel for four or five years.”
The M.D.’s Director of Field Operations George Snider disputed those facts, citing instances of repairs and grading. But he agreed, “It’s in terrible shape.”
Snider also noted that according to M.D. policy, the road is pretty low on the priority list. But he added that 2 ½ years ago the M.D. spent $40,000 fixing a section of the road.
Culvert maintenance is another problem, Cyr asserted. Thanks to beaver activity, “the water is two feet higher on one side than the other.” He suggested an M.D. backhoe be dispatched to deal with the problem, along with a grader and new gravel for the road.
M.D. manager Allan Winarski promised the Cyrs that the M.D. would take a close look at the road and decide what it could do and to let them know.
In a subsequent discussion, council further mulled over the problem of Muskeg Road, which serves very few permanent residents, hence its low priority.
“Could we close it?” asked Councillor Tim Walmsley.
Answering, Snider said if the proposed ‘by-pass’ road goes through (a connection for resource traffic between Hwy. 88 and the Mitsue Industrial Park), it would pretty much eliminate the traffic impact on Muskeg Road. As it stands though, “all it takes is one heavy truck to cause us a lot of grief,” he said.
Concluding the conversation, Winarski said: “We haven’t budgeted the kind of money that would satisfy Mr. Cyr.”

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