A group of residents and cabin owners in Central Newfoundland are asking to have the Rocky Brook Bridge replaced so they can access their properties, a situation that recently became dire for one couple.

The bridge, built in 2006, allowed access to woods roads from the Trans Canada, and since that time, the government has provided access to building lots in the area.

As a result there are seven full-time residents and dozens of cabin owners in the area. Property owners formed a committee and approached the province with their concerns about the bridge which had fallen into disrepair. The span is now closed, cutting residents off from the highway.

Greg Davis says his wife suddenly took seriously ill on March 1 and paramedics had no way to get to his home on the other side of the bridge.

“The ambulance only got so far as the bridge,” says Davis, who then had to walk in with their equipment. “It wasn’t very far, because I’m only on the other side of the bridge.”

The problem, says Davis, was getting his wife back out to the hospital. That’s when he took the chance and drove over the span to get to the waiting ambulance. He says the situation was serious.

“They’re going to have to do something,” says Davis. “That was a life or death situation. Another hour and that would have been very serious.”

The committee has proposed that government sell more cottage lots in the area and use the funds to build a new bridge.