**** TRANSPORTATION / ONFRASTRUCTURE Media Release
Province releases 2021-22 Five-Year Highway Plan
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Nova Scotia will invest almost $500 million to improve and upgrade roads, highways and bridges across the province this year.
The Five-Year Highway Improvement Plan includes more than 150 major construction and improvement projects for the coming year that will make Nova Scotia’s roads, highways and bridges safer.
“Our highway system is the backbone of our province. Investing in our highways, roads and bridges is an investment in public safety,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Lloyd Hines. “This year and last year represent more than a billion dollars invested in our road and highway infrastructure.”
Eleven major construction projects are planned for 2021-22, with the focus on ongoing twinning of Highways 101, 103, 104 and Highway 107 (the Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector).
The department will continue to spend on safety improvements for highways not being twinned. That work involves improving intersections, adding passing lanes, climbing lanes and turning lanes, interchanges and roundabouts.
The plan includes:
— improvements for the Port Hastings Rotary
— the new Highway 102 Aerotech Connector
— construction of the new Bridgewater Interchange
— 19 bridges to be replaced or rehabilitated
— more than 500 kilometres of asphalt and gravel road work
Investment in the Gravel Road Program to rebuild existing gravel roads in rural Nova Scotia, improving safety and reducing maintenance costs, continues to be a priority.
The plan can be found at: http://novascotia.ca/tran/highways/fiveyearplan.asp
Quick Facts:
— the plan maps out government’s approach, year by year, to repair and maintain the province’s 23,000 kilometres of roads and highways and 4,100 bridges
— 612 kilometres of road were paved in 2020-21 with more than one million tonnes of asphalt put down
— 15 new bridges were built and 13 rehabilitated in 2020-21
— there were more than 216 tenders issued in 2020-21 for highway and road work
— the road building industry creates more than 5,000 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs each year in the province
