Road plans will open up northern B.C.

British Columbia has announced that it will upgrade a long stretch of Highway 97 over the next five years at a cost of $200 million. The highway runs north for 460 kilometres through the centre of the province and is known as the Cariboo Connector.
This first phase of improvements will affect the road between Cache Creek and Prince George and will focus on sections that are near the larger communities, including the Simon Fraser Bridge south of Prince George, and Fletcher’s Corner south of William’s Lake.
The government intends to make the entire length of the Cariboo Connector four lanes and expects the cost to be around $2 billion.
The B.C. Transportation Ministry says it is working on the procurement plan over the next few months and will be announcing details of how it will contract the work out by the summer.