UPDATE: Determined widow fights for road maintenance near Swan Lake

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — A widowed woman living near Swan Lake is seeking answers for who is responsible for maintaining the road to her home.

Andrea Zieglgansberger owns a piece of land on Road 201 from the east side of Swan Lake to the Alberta border.

She and her husband have owned the property since November of 1984.

Zieglgansberger says she has been arguing with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) and the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) about who is responsible for maintaining the road to her home on and off for 40 years, but even more so in the last two.

“My husband passed away a year and a half ago, and he’s the one that maintained the road because they wouldn’t and he wouldn’t argue with them,” Zieglgansberger said.

“I am now alone, and I have no services.”

Zieglgansberger says both levels of government would argue that the road to her property was private, but she knew it wasn’t and provided proof that the road was “gazetted” or established in 1981. 

It took weeks for her to receive a reply after she delivered proof the road was a gazetted right-of-way.

The MOTI recently informed Zieglgansberger that she would need a road work permit to have someone plow and grate the road to her property, but she is still determining how to acquire one.

The MOTI told Energeticcity.ca that it maintains the first 700 metres of the 201 Road, north from Highway 2, and beyond this point is considered a private dwelling, despite Zieglgansberger proof.

According to the Government of B.C., contractors, developers, landowners, local governments and utility companies can apply for a highway works permit to work or maintain provincial highways or right-of-ways.

The government website doesn’t have applications for what Zieglgansberger is looking for, so further information from the MOTI is still required.

Annette Andrews, communications manager with the PRRD, told Energeticcity that the district does not have jurisdiction over public roads within the district and has no bylaws regulating the maintenance of private roads on private land.

Energeticcity.ca also contacted the MOTI but has yet to receive a response in time for publication.