The cost of the absence of annual river maintenance

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The first video shows the break water breach which caused the collapse of the Gold Brook bridge located on the Cabot Trail in November 2021. The replacement bridge is currently under reconstruction and should open in the summer of 2026. Although the final costs are not yet in, it is estimated the cost to taxpayers will be in the 12-15 million dollar mark.

The second video shows the destruction caused to the riverbed when the stream migrated out of its original channel due to lack of annual maintenance. Gone are the Hart and Red Bank pools that were signature pools on the Margaree River. This happened when the river diverted out of its channel approximately 25 years ago and to the left of the two white chairs on the bank was the river channel at that time.

The third photo shows how quickly the Indian Brook (located on the Middle River) turned completely brown after a thunder and lightning storm dumped 20 millimetres of rain in a 2 hour period. The source of the sediment is extreme streambank erosion further upstream.

The final photo was taken on the bridge over the Nile brook in Margaree. I enquired about the green area at the top of the photo thinking it was a field. Unfortunately, this was the stream bed several years prior.