Budget Bulletin: Turning the Corner on Roads and Highways

FINANCE--Budget Bulletin: Turning the Corner on Roads and Highways

Turning the Corner on Roads and Highways

• $49 million (including $11 million in new money) in capital funding for roads and bridges.
• Pressure Ottawa for National Highway System funding.

Our highways are critical links to our communities and the health of our economy. However years of under-funding have impacted on our roads and bridges. Last year, government started to reverse this trend by not cutting the highways budget. This year, government is going even further by committing $11 million in new capital funding to the repair and maintenance of our roads and bridges.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works has identified almost 11,000 kilometres of 100-series and secondary highways that need rehabilitation. The cost today to bring these roads up to acceptable standards would be $3.4 billion over the next 10 years. This includes $560 million just for replacing and fixing bridges, $1 billion for twinning and expanding primary and secondary highways, and $1.4 billion for improving existing primary and secondary highways. The remainder is required for badly needed paving and upgrading of rural and local roads.

The Nova Scotia government recognizes the severity and the enormity of this problem and is committing $49 million in capital funding to road and bridge repair in 2001-02. This is $11 million more than the previous year, but falls far short of the $340 million that is required over each of the next 10 years.

The $11 million is part of a three-year plan to fulfill government’s commitment to increase funding for road construction by $31 million.

A major effort to convince Ottawa to fund a fair and appropriate share of highway construction will continue. About 70 per cent of our 100-series highways are part of the National Highway System. Nova Scotia is expected to receive $2.5 million from Ottawa in 2002 to assist with highways. This is less than 2 per cent of the estimated $137 million Nova Scotians paid last year in federal fuel tax.

Nova Scotia has also set aside $5 million in capital funding in this fiscal year to begin the twinning of Highway 101 if federal cost-shared dollars become available.

The total budget for the Department of Transportation and Public Works appears smaller compared to 2000-01, but this is because the office-leasing budget is now distributed among individual departments. In previous years, leasing costs for all of government were located in TPW’s budget.

NOTE: For other 2001-02 budget information, visit the Department of Finance Web site at www.gov.ns.ca/finance .