Nova Scotia is planning to spend half a billion dollars on highway projects, bridge replacements and infrastructure work as part of a multi-year plan.
Fred Tilley, minister of Public Works, announced the province will spend more than $500 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year as part of the Five-Year Highway Improvement Plan. The government says more than 150 highway projects will get underway in the next fiscal year.
“With more than 150 highway projects planned for the next year, we are going to be busy,” said Tilley.
Two new major projects are the Port Hastings intersection in Inverness County and passing lanes between exits 18 and 19 on Highway 107 in the Halifax municipality.
The five-year plan lays out the scheduled road projects in the province from now to 2029-2030. Ongoing projects include:
- Seal Island Bridge rehabilitation in Victoria County
- the Highway 102 Aerotech connector in Halifax
- the Highway 103 Argyle interchange in Yarmouth County
- the Highway 107 twinning from Burnside to Lake Loon
- the Highway 103 twinning from Hubbards to East River in Lunenburg County
- the Highway 104 twinning from Taylors Road to Paqtnkek in Antigonish County
In 2024, completed road projects were:
- the Highway 103 Tantallon to Hubbards
- the Highway 103 Bridgewater interchange
- the Highway 107 Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector
- the Highway 104/Route 344 intersection realignment at Aulds Cove
In the coming year the government will spend $161 million on asphalt resurfacing, $7 million on land purchases, $7 million on ferries, machinery and equipment, and $5 million on highway designs and surveys.
The government notes more than 8,400 kilometres of provincial roads are gravel, so they will be maintaining a $55 million investment to enhance those roads.
They will also continue to pay $60 million for a fund that repairs and replaces the more than 4,100 bridges in Nova Scotia.
The official opposition didn’t have much to oppose on the projects, but said more work still needs to be done.
“What is missing from this plan is one, a focus on local provincial roads. These are where people live, they are owned by the province and the responsibility lays on the province and yet, are falling into disrepair,” said Kendra Coombes, Nova Scotia NDP Public Works critic.
“As well as a local provincial road plan, the joint task force that we have here in the Halifax area, and that needs to be looked at further as well as a rural transportation plan.”
There are 23,000 kilometres of roads and highways in the province. The government says it costs $500,000 per kilometre to rehabilitate road infrastructure and between $500,000 and $750,000 to upgrade a trunk highway.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Emma Convey.
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