SAINT JOHN, N.B. — A bump in funding from both the province and the city of Saint John could see Rothesay Avenue get a lot smoother, says Paul Groody commissioner of municipal operations.

Unfortunately, he says, budgets are stretched and the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the city have not provided enough funding to properly repair and maintain the provincially designated highway.

“Rothesay Avenue is in absolutely terrible condition,” says Groody. “Doing a resurfacing job from one end to the other as was done in the past is just throwing good money after bad. It needs to be properly reconstructed from the base up.”

On the positive side of things, the city has a five-year plan to completely rebuild Rothesay Avenue from the One-Mile House interchange at Russell Road to McAllister Drive.

This depends on the province contributing its share, which, in recent years the DOT has not provided near the amount of money the city has requested to help repair roads.

Under the latest plan, the city would pay $4.5 million to rebuild the road and fix the water pipes and storm drainage underneath. The provincial share would be $1 million.