The project to replace the 61-year-old Salmon River Bridge is going to tender, transportation and infrastructure minister Todd Stone said Monday.
He said the contract will likely be awarded this August, which will allow some early works in the late summer into the early fall while the significant construction will begin during next year's construction season.
The project, for which $24 million has been budgeted, will be based on the design and the conceptual drawings that were presented at the most-recent open house, Stone also said.
The existing Salmon River bridge is 61 years old. Its replacement will be wider so it can handle oversize transport trucks.
Replacing the Parsnip bridge, located in the B.C. Peace and also built in the early 1950s, is also listed in the provincial government's 10-year transportation plan, launched a year ago, as part of an effort to make Highway 97 north easier to negotiate.
"Those were two key safety concerns and choke points when you consider the fact that commercial transport loads are getting heavier and wider and higher and the volume of transport trucks is increasing steadily as well," Stone said.
Progress is also being made on installing dedicated left turn signals along Highway 16 at Vance-Cowart Roads and at Ferry Avenue. Stone said the the design work has been finished and the parts are on order with work expected to begin "very soon" on both intersections. The goal is to complete the work by the end of this summer.
"So within the next three months or so, we should have the left turn-only signalization improvements completed at both of these intersections," Stone said.
The Cowart-Vance intersection was the scene of a collision in April that cost the life of a 16-year-old local girl. Stone subsequently moved ahead the work planned for the two locations, which is estimated to cost $500,000.
There are other significant projects either under way or on the books for the Central Interior, Stone noted.
He said four-laning of Highway 97 South from Stone Creek to Williams Road is on schedule. The $44-million project covers just a two-kilometre stretch but "it's a very complicated and expensive section."
Because of the topography, the two of the lanes will be on a higher grade.
And "good progress" is being made on the design and engineering work for four-laning Highway 16 West from Bunce Road to Blackwater Road, a 3.4-kilometre stretch, for which $21 million has been budgeted.
Stone said that project should go to tender this November or December with construction to begin next year.
"We may be able to begin to get on with some of the early works, the utility moved for example, later this year in preparation for this project," Stone said.
Also on Monday, the ministry said a $3.5-million contract has been awarded to resurface Highway 97 North from Whiskers Point to Mackenzie junction.
Hot-in-place recycling to renew the 16-year-old surface and work is expected to finish in September.
All told, "there's a fair amount of work going on in and around Prince George in the next 12 months," Stone said.
- Stone said details will be announced Wednesday regarding the move toward a shuttle bus service along Highway 16 West.
"We got some great work done by the advisory committee," Stone said. In December, Stone unveiled a $3-million plan to improve safety along the so-called Highway of Tears between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
Of that, $1.6 million has been committed to expanding transit along the 750-km stretch and a nine-person committee was appointed to work out the details.
