Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Ashley Legassic

NEW CONTRACTS

Improvements coming to highway standards across Southern Interior

Jun 12, 2019 | 8:57 AM

MERRITT, B.C. — With new highway contracts for the Southern Interior going into place next month, the province says standards for roadways will improve.

The new contractor for the Merritt and surrounding area is Yellowhead Road and Bridge.

For Hope and the Fraser Valley, Emil Anderson Maintenance Co. will continue to provide service.

“The new maintenance contracts for all service areas require higher standards and a more proactive approach when a severe weather event occurs,” the province says in a news release.

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Those improvements include:

• Increased communication with the public about rapidly-changing road conditions during severe weather events
• Return Winter Class A highways to bare pavement within 24 hours of a winter weather event
• Increase patrol frequency to 90 minutes on highways like the Coquihalla during a winter storm
• Increase patrol frequency to four hours when a weather event is forecast

Under the new agreement, contractors will be required to be more proactive before a winter weather event, and to spread anti-icing chemicals prior as well.

The contracts also include a provision for multi-lane plowing, the province says, which will increase the level of service on the Coquihalla and Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope.

“This specification will ensure that all lanes on these highway sections are plowed with a maximum allowable accumulation of four centimetres of snow. When this comes into effect, drivers will see less snow accumulation.”