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The $23.4 million contract has been awarded to widen a section of the Trans-Canada Highway from two lanes to four.
Emil Anderson Construction Inc of Kelowna has landed the contract to work on the section east of Kamloops. This second and final phase of the Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff project will be working on 3.1 km of Highway 1, and it's meant to improve the safety and reliability of this challenging section of this important highway.
(Photo Credit: Government of BC)
Work is supposed to begin in spring 2015 and is scheduled to be finished by fall 2016. After the project is completed, 16 km of highway will be expanded to four lanes between Kamloops and Chase from both the Monte Creek to Pritchard project and the Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff project.
The provincial government says that this second phase has come after what it calls “extensive consultation with local First Nations”, and the Province says that the phase has included an agreement for construction through the Neskonlith Indian Band's reserve near Hoffman's Bluff.
“Safety has been an ongoing concern for the Trans-Canada Highway,” says Chief Judy Wilson of the Neskonlith Indian Band. “The four-laning directly involves our communities in various studies, contractual work and most importantly in the protection of our cultural sites and ancestral burial landform. The entire corridor is recognized as origins of our Secwepemc People, which date back 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Continued protection and management of the existing sites and the new finds is critical. Direct involvement in planning, design and construction along with recognition of our title/rights and people is key.”
Hoffman's Bluff section of Highway 1. (Photo Credit: Government of BC)
“By working with First Nations communities along this section of the Trans-Canada Highway, we continue to make it safer and more reliable for all travellers and for those who live along the corridor, as well as help to ensure that goods can get to market on this extremely important trade route,” said Todd Stone, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The Province says that the total cost of the Pritchard to Hoffman's Bluff project is $61.6 million, with $34.7 from the provincial government and a maximum of $26.9 million from the federal government. The B.C. government has committed to investing $650 million over 10 years into the Trans-Canada between Kamloops and the Alberta border.
In 2012, Emil Anderson Construction won the Deputy Minister's Contractor of the Year Award for being one of B.C.'s best road builders in the Monte Creek to Pritchard Four Laning Phase 1 project.
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