The Department of Transportation and Works has begun to issue tenders for road work scheduled for the 2019-20 construction season under the Five-Year Provincial Roads Plan.
By issuing tenders during the winter, contractors are better informed about upcoming work and have more time to plan expenditures for the next construction season. Awarding tenders during the off-season also allows contractors to be ready to begin work as soon as possible.
“Issuing road tenders at this time of year is a win-win situation for contractors and everyone who uses our highways,” said Transportation and Works Minister Steve Crocker. “Contractors are more informed, have more time to plan for their season and will be ready to start work when the weather allows, and as we have seen in the first two years of the plan, starting work as early as possible leads to more work being completed.”
Tenders were issued Thursday, Dec. 20 to pave 80 kilometres of the Trans-Labrador Highway between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Cartwright Junction and to repave sections of the Burin Peninsula Highway from St. Lawrence towards Lawn.
Tenders to repave sections of the Trans-Canada Highway in Gander from Cooper Boulevard Intersection to the hospital and replace culverts and repave sections of White Bay South Highway, from Hampden exit to Main River Bridge, will be issued before the end of the month.
A list of other highways planned for paving and other repairs in the 2019-20 road construction season is available at www.roads.gov.nl.ca.
More than 800 lane kilometres of highway were paved during the 2018-19 season.
The department anticipates announcing the annual update to the Five-Year Provincial Roads Plan – including the additional projects for 2019-20, new projects for the following three years and the new fifth year – in late January.
Projects selected for the plan are based on evidence, safety, traffic volumes, and input from the department’s engineers and users of provincial roads and highways. A public consultation held this fall received 326 submissions.
