Transportation Minister Roger Melanson has told Brun-Way to improve its snow-clearing performance on the section of Trans-Canada Highway or face fines of up to $10,000 a day.

Following storms this fall there have been many complaints to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure that Brun-Way wasn't doing an adequate job of clearing the four-lane highway it maintains under an agreement with the provincial government.

Many motorists noted the highway conditions would change for the better at Long's Creek, where the section of highway maintained by Maritime Road Development Corp. begins. Brun-Way is responsible for the highway from Long's Creek to the Quebec border.

Melanson said on Monday he wrote a letter to Brun-Way after the first storm in November to state "we weren't satisfied in the level of service that was being offered in that section of the highway."

Brun-Way indicated they had responded with the equipment they had available at the time, said Melanson.

"Certainly, we were not satisfied with that," said Melanson.

We've got two options — to find a solution and get this corrected or to take a punitive action. - Transportation Minister Roger Melanson

"There is an agreement that we have between Brun-Way and the province of New Brunswick. We expect that roads are being plowed and respect the agreement."

Melanson said officials in his department have had "many conversations" with Brun-Way about the issue in recent weeks.

"We certainly want to see some corrective actions from Brun-Way and we are monitoring this very closely," said Melanson.

"What they need to respect is after the snowfall stops, the roads need to be bared and we need to see asphalt from one side to the other within 24 hours."

Melanson said his department has a team in place to monitor the situation.

"If we don't see the level of services that need to be offered, we'll take some actions," he said.

Under the terms of the agreement between the provincial government and the company, penalties of up to $10,000 can be imposed if there are 15 or more instances of Brun-Way not conforming with the standards set out in its agreement with the province.

"We've got two options — to find a solution and get this corrected or to take a punitive action," said Melanson.

"Obviously, we want to be seeing the level of service that's supposed to be offered at the highway quality."

A petition posted on change.org is calling for a substantial increase in highway maintenance during the winter months or for Brun-way to be replaced.

More than 1,000 people had signed the online petition as of Monday.