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PRINCE GEORGE – Residents of
Prince George and surrounding communities will benefit from more than $700,000
to improve travel and safety conditions on the Walker Creek Forest Service
road, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell and Community Development Minister
Kevin Krueger announced today.
“The Walker Creek
Forest Service Road provides primary access to Kakwa Provincial Park, a spectacular and heavily-used
recreational site,” said Bell. “We want
to ensure that crucial Forest Service roads that connect rural communities,
parks and wilderness areas in British Columbia receive the maintenance needed
to keep those communities accessible.”
The funding will allow replacement of the
deck material on the Fraser River Bridge, part of the Walker Creek Forest
Service road, located east of Prince George. Additional works planned for this
road will improve accessibility through the summer season for users of Kakwa
Provincial Park, a showcase of ice clad mountains and
extensive alpine meadows and home to Mount Sir Alexander, Mount Ida and Kakwa
Lake.
“The Walker Creek Forest Service road is used as a
critical link between Prince George and Kakwa Provincial Park,” said
Krueger. “Improvements to the road will provide safer access
for residents and visitors to this recreational site. We’re
pleased that the provincial government is providing the
funds needed to ensure that this road is safe for the people in our rural
communities who rely on it.”
British Columbia’s
55,000-kilometre network of Forest Service roads is bigger than the provincial
highway system. As first announced by Premier Gordon Campbell at the 2008 Union
of B.C. Municipalities convention, the Ministry of Forests and Range is
providing $20 million over two years to improve travel conditions on Forest
Service roads that serve as crucial transportation links for rural communities
and recreation sites. The Province of British Columbia and the Government of
Canada committed on April 7, 2009, to a further $20 million in shared funding
for additional Forest Service road upgrades that will be announced in the
coming months.
New road maintenance funding is the latest
in a series of initiatives to improve safety on Forest Service roads, which
include the establishment of radio protocols, speed enforcement through the
expanded use of radar guns, and the expansion of the Vehicle Identification
Plates Program.
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contact: |
Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592 |
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