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NEWS RELEASE
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August 31, 2009 |
Ministry of Transportation and
Infrastructure |
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IMPROVEMENTS UNDERWAY FOR KICKING HORSE CANYON
GOLDEN – Paving preparation work is now underway for a section of the Trans-Canada Highway outside Golden, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Shirley Bond announced today.
“These improvements will help to improve safety for motorists along this stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway,” said Bond. “It’s another segment of the larger Kicking Horse Canyon project (KHCP), which is being delivered ahead of schedule and is creating hundreds of local jobs.”
Grade construction of the Golden Hill fourth-lane extension was completed in July 2009, with 99 per cent of the crew hired locally. Construction on the remaining Golden Hill to West Portal section will begin this fall under a design-build agreement, currently in the tender process. A $1.1-million paving contract was awarded to Dawson Construction Ltd., of Kamloops. Work will include gravelling as well as drainage construction, paving, signing and the installation of concrete barriers over approximately 1.2 km of the Trans-Canada Highway east of the Highway 95 junction at Golden. The fourth lane extension is expected to open to traffic this October.
On Nov. 6, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Gordon Campbell announced a $64.2-million federal and a $70.1-million provincial contribution for the Phase 3 upgrades and improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway in the Kicking Horse Pass. This contribution was announced as a broader joint commitment to fund major infrastructure projects in British Columbia. The project is funded under the Province’s three-year, $14-billion capital infrastructure program that will create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.
The $64-million Phase 1 of the KHCP was
completed in November 2006, and involved the replacement of the Yoho Bridge and
3.2 km of highway upgrades. The new Park Bridge (10-Mile Bridge) was the main
feature of Phase 2, the upgrading of 5.8 km of the Trans-Canada Highway. The
Phase 2 expenditure was $143 million and was completed in August 2007.
More information is available on the Kicking Horse Canyon project website at www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca.
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Contact: |
Dave Crebo Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Transportation 250 387-7787 |
Chris Day Press Secretary, Office of Canada’s Transport
Minister John Baird, Ottawa 613 991-0700 |
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