Smoother Section, Highway 103

Rush-hour commuters along the South Shore will find part of their trip to be much smoother now. A micro-surfacing project on Highway 103 between exits 4 and 5 has wrapped up.

Micro-surfacing is a modified asphalt mixture designed to protect the pavement and provide a skid-resistant surface. It will extend the life of the pavement for years.

This section of Highway 103 will see further improvements in the next few years as construction to twin the highway from Exit 3 to Exit 5 gets under way.

Another section of micro-surfacing on Highway 101 between Highway 102 and Mount Uniacke is part of the contract and is expected to be completed this summer. A total of 40 kilometres of highway will receive the coating, which is usually applied about one centimetre thick.

Industrial Cold Milling of Moncton and Dartmouth was the successful bidder for the $1.22-million project. Many motorists will benefit from this work. About 40,000 trips are made on these two sections of highway each day.

This year, the department's capital budget for road improvements is $85.5 million, an increase of $32 million over the previous year. It's the third year in a row the capital portion of the roads budget has increased.

The Department of Transportation and Public Works' 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. Staff provide services from four district offices located in Bridgewater, Bedford, Truro and Sydney.