Highway 101 Contract Award

Heavy equipment will arrive to begin work on the next major piece of the Highway 101 twinning project within 10 days.

Ron Russell, Minister of Transportation and Public Works, has announced that Alva Construction Ltd. of Antigonish is the successful bidder to blast rock, shape the new highway and lay gravel before the road can be paved. The $5-million project, cost-shared with the federal government, covers the 5.2 kilometres between the Ellershouse Road underpass and the Stillwater Station Road. The additional two lanes will be built on the south side of the existing highway.

"This is one of the largest capital projects on our highways this year," said Mr. Russell. "We've been making great progress on Highway 101, and today's announcement brings us a step closer to completion."

The subgrade work announced today is expected to be completed by mid-May 2003. The entire 21-kilometre section of Highway 101 between Mount Uniacke, at Exit 3, and Ellershouse, at Exit 4, is tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 2003.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works' 2002 capital budget for road improvements is $85.5 million, an increase of $32 million over 2001. It's the third year in a row that the capital portion of the roads budget has increased.

The department's highways division manages more than 23,000 kilometres of roads in Nova Scotia. It maintains an inventory of 3,800 bridges and operates seven provincial ferries. Four district offices are located in Bridgewater, Bedford, Truro and Sydney.