New Highway 104 in Nova Scotia receives funding

In early November Nova Scotia and the Government of Canada signed one of the first framework agreements under Building Canada, the federal government’s new long-term infrastructure plan. The agreement between the two parties is worth $634 million. <br>
At the same timethe two governments identified the first phase of a new Highway 104 twinning project as a priority for receiving some of that funding.<br>
The new Highway 104 twinning project is a 16-kilometre stretch running east-west at Antigonish that replaces trunk roads throught the community. The new highway has already received environmental approval from the province and is in the process of applying for federal approval. Its total cost is expected to be approximatelay $94 million. Phase 1 is $50 million, with the federal government contributing half of that. <br>
The alignment for the route was selected in 2000 from three different options that had been studied and presented before the community.<br>
While most of the road design is being done by engineers with the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (Dwayne Cross is project manager), outside consultants have been involved at various stages. Jacques Whitford were consultants for the environmental assessments, ADI Limited have done a benefit cost study, and SNC Lavalin are doing traffic projections. The highway includes four interchanges and two major river crossings, where the span is 250 metres long. Dwayne Cross says that while the first two structures will be done in-house, some of the other structures will be contracted out to engineering companies. <br>
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