A new maintenance contract has been awarded for the Lakes District service area to ensure better highway conditions during winter weather.

The contract for Service Area 24 – Lakes covers provincial roadways in the communities of Burns Lake, Houston, Granisle, Grassy Plains, Decker Lake and Topley. The current contractor, Lakes District Maintenance Ltd., won the 10-year contract, which has an optional five-year extension, and started on Sept. 1, 2018.

The new maintenance contracts for all service areas require higher standards and a more proactive approach when a severe weather event occurs. Some of the biggest improvements over the last contract include:

• Returning Highway 16 and other Class A highways to bare pavement within 24 hours of a winter weather event. The previous standard was 48 hours at temperatures of -9 C or warmer.
• Increasing communication with the public to rapidly changing road conditions during severe weather events and other incidents affecting travel on B.C. roads.
• Increasing the patrol frequency to four hours in anticipation of a foecasted weather event. The previous standard was 24 hours.

Twenty-six of the 28 maintenance contracts in the province will be tendered and awarded in 2018 and 2019, through a staggered open-bidding process.

Quick Facts:

• Private contractors maintain nearly 47,000 kilometres of road and 2,800 bridges in some of the most challenging terrain in Canada.
• Crews apply 750,000 tonnes of winter abrasives and 100,000 tonnes of salt to over 1.2 million kilometres of highways annually throughout B.C.
• The value of these 28 highway maintenance agreements totals approximately $400 million annually.

Learn More:

For more information on the ministry’s highway maintenance contract renewal program, go to: www.gov.bc.ca/highwaymaintenancerenewal