$5 MILLION SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS TO OVERPASS COMPLETED

VANDERHOOF – Today marked the successful completion and official opening of the Bobtail Forest Service Road overpass. The $5.2-million project, designed to improve traffic safety and support economic diversification, was completed ahead of time and on budget, announced Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell.

“I had two main reasons for supporting this project: first, safety and second, the economy” said Bell. “This overpass will dramatically improve the safety of our truck drivers and the travelling public. It also can be a bridge to future developments, in particular, bioenergy opportunities in the region.”

The overpass is on Highway 16 near Bednesti Lake, about 50 kilometres west of Prince George. The Bobtail Forest Service road provides an off-highway haul route to Canfor’s Isle Pierre sawmill. With an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 cubic metres of wood being hauled along the Bobtail each year, road user groups identified the crossing as a significant safety concern.

“We are continuing to demonstrate the high priority our government places on safety,” said John Rustad, MLA for Prince George-Omineca. “I have traveled this stretch of road many times and know first-hand how difficult it can be to navigate. These major improvements will eliminate some of that difficulty and risk, and make a huge difference to residents and visitors.”

“It’s encouraging to see government paying attention to safety and taking concrete action to ensure safe passage for all users of those roads, industrial and public,” said MaryAnne Arcand, director of the Forestry TruckSafe Program & Northern Initiatives. “It’s also great to see local SAFE Certified contractors doing the work.”

The overpass was designed by Associated Engineering (BC) Ltd. from Burnaby and constructed by two prime contractors Blackwater Construction Limited (Prince George) and LNB Construction Limited (Merritt). It was designed and built to ensure it would accommodate any future highway improvements such as widening, meet the height clearance needed for an industrial corridor and protect highway users from any dust and debris normally generated from an industrial overpass.

A large percentage of the timber trucked via the Bobtail Forest Service Road is beetle-attacked pine. Maintaining high safety standards to protect forest workers and the public is a key objective of the provincial Mountain Pine Beetle Action Plan. The Province has committed more than $120 million since 2006 to mitigating impacts of the beetle infestation on roads in rural municipalities and on highways, and to addressing safety concerns on forest service roads.

Photos of the grand opening will be posted to www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media/.

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Media contact:	Sophia Proctor Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592

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