The Canadian province of British Columbia has embarked on an ambitious summer paving programme covering nearly 1,000km of highways.
Work has begun in the southern interior to upgrade 485km of major roads and side-roads while around 300km of roads will be paved in the north of the province.
Nearly 160km of roads on Vancouver Island will get resurfaced as well, said Rob Fleming, British Columbia’s minister of transportation and infrastructure.
The work is costing in the region of US$156 million (CAN$212 million), with more than half of this being spent on highways in the south that includes some of the province’s main tourism districts including popular wine-growing regions.
Meanwhile, BC is investing around $14.5 million (nearly CAN$20 million) this year for regional airport upgrading, including runway paving and widening. The province has more than 300 public airports, heliports and water aerodromes and the work is being done as part of the latest round of the BC Air Access Programme that is supporting 40 projects at 29 air facilities.
Among the airports getting runway upgrades are those for Golden, Pit Meadows, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm and McBride.
