New Brunswick·NewThe Newcastle Creek #1 bridge was closed abruptly on Tuesday after a routine inspection discovered the structure had deteriorated, forcing people living in the area to take an old dirt mining road to enter and exit their neighbourhood.The bridge in Newcastle Centre was closed this week after an inspector found it unsafeSilas Brown · CBC News · Posted: Sep 27, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoMary-Faith Mazerolle is frustrated that the province didn’t have a plan in place for the aging bridge before it had to be closed without notice. (Silas Brown/CBC)A bridge closure has left some people living just outside of Minto without a paved road to access their homes, and having to use an old dirt mining road to enter and leave their neighbourhood. The 70-year-old Newcastle Creek #1 bridge was closed abruptly on Tuesday after a routine inspection showed signs that the structure had deteriorated to the point of being unsafe. Mary-Faith Mazerolle, one of about two dozen people whose year-round homes were cut off by the closure, said the situation could have been avoided. “It’s absolutely frustrating that it has come to this point when it was a known issue. It’s been a long-known issue for successive governments and there has been really nothing done to prepare for the event that the bridge was going to close,” she said. “There’s been no answers forthcoming for the residents in the local area. And it’s just very disheartening.”The Newcastle Creek #1 bridge was built in 1955 and has been deteriorating for years. (Silas Brown/CBC)Mazerolle has lived in the same area, only a few minutes outside of Minto, for her entire life. In all that time, the Newcastle Centre bridge has been the link from her neck of the Grand Lake shore to the rest of the region. As of Tuesday, she and others living in her neighbourhood are being routed down Cedar Street, a dirt road that used to provide access to Minto’s coal pits. The province began grading the often bumpy and uneven surface on Wednesday, and says the work is expected to take about six to eight weeks. While Mazerolle is frustrated by the detour, it’s the future of the bridge that most concerns her. “We will swallow our lumps and take the detour, but we want a replacement bridge in a timely fashion,” she said. WATCH | Newcastle Centre residents call for new bridge to be built:Residents stuck taking back road after abrupt Minto-area bridge closureThe only way people in the Newcastle Centre area of New Brunswick can access their homes is by using a dirt mining road, after an aging bridge was closed this week. It’s no secret that the wood and asphalt bridge, built in 1955, has been deteriorating for years. But those living near it were hoping for a replacement modular bridge to maintain the link to the surrounding area. Back in March, Fredericton-Grand Lake MLA Kris Austin met with staff from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and was told there were three options being examined for the bridge: the detour on Cedar Street, a full replacement of the bridge, and the installation of a single-lane, modular bridge. Austin says he was told a decision on the future of the bridge would come by April 7. That date came and went with no news, and now the old bridge is unusable. Grand Lake MLA Kris Austin says he’s been pushing for more than a year to have a modular bridge put in place. (Silas Brown/CBC)Austin believes a modular bridge is likely the most efficient and cost-effective solution, saying that was being discussed last year while he was a cabinet minister in the Blaine Higgs PC government, “to ensure that when this time came, that modular bridge would be already in place.”He added: “People understand the temporary detour while you’re working on a permanent solution. What people are frustrated with, what I’m frustrated with, is there is no direction. There’s no definitive ‘Yes, you’re getting a modular bridge.'”Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Chuck Chiasson was not made available for an interview with CBC News, but a department spokesperson said in an email that no decision has been made on the future of the bridge. The statement said the department will “continue to work toward a permanent transportation solution for the area.”Detour not usable in spring?Some fear that could mean Cedar Street becomes the permanent route in and out of the area — even though Grand Lake Mayor Kevin Nicklin said it’s often impassable during the spring. “We don’t want them trying to upgrade an old mine road and say that that should be the permanent route with a gravel base,” Nicklin said.”The cost to pave that whole section would be enormous. It would be far more than putting in the fixed link again.” I could find somewhere else to walk, but I can’t find somewhere else to see my kids… Am I gonna drive that road? I doubt it.— Elaine GauthierIt’s not just those who live on the side of the closed bridge away from town who are raising concerns.Elaine Gauthier lives on the south side of the bridge and her children live on the opposite side. She said the bridge is a critical link between people living on the northwestern shore of Grand Lake, and features often in her frequent walks.”I could find somewhere else to walk, but I can’t find somewhere else to see my kids. My kids are a lot to me. They are a big part of my life and I don’t want that cut off,” Gauthier said. “Am I gonna drive that road? I doubt it.”Like many others in the area, Elaine Gauthier has family ties on both sides of the bridge. She feels as if her community has just been cut in two. (Silas Brown/CBC)About 70 properties are cut off by the bridge closure, with a mix of permanent and seasonal residents.According to Nicklin, the area has seen a steady stream of people building permanent homes in recent years and he worries that the lack of a bridge will make it harder to deliver services for the area. “This area is growing,” he said. “They came down here based on the fact that they could drive on a paved road and now we’re asking them to travel six to eight kilometres on a dirt road.”This didn’t just happen from one government; this has been going on for 30 years now. So everybody has to take a little bit of blame in it. That neglect has constituted an emergency now on our part.”ABOUT THE AUTHORSilas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist. You can reach him at silas.brown@cbc.ca.
Abrupt closure of Minto-area bridge leaves neighbourhood without paved road access
