N.S. government releases $465M plan for highway, road and bridge work

If the Nova Scotia government is facing financial challenges, those challenges have not made any measurable difference in plans for highway, road and bridge work.

Public Works Minister Fred Tilley released the government’s annual five-year plan on Wednesday and, at $465 million, the budgeted amount for work in 2026-27 is only about $35 million less than what was announced last year.

Tilley attributed most of the difference to increased spending by the Progressive Conservatives in recent years to catch up on improving gravel roads.

“We’ve invested heavily in our gravel roads since taking over [government] — upwards of $150 million over and above the regular budget,” he told reporters in Halifax.

At $27.5 million for the coming fiscal year, Tilley said the budget for gravel roads is now at a level that should avoid creating project backlogs.

Money ready for Highway 101 twinning

The upcoming year will see continued work on twinning projects along Highway 103 and 107, and more work on the Seal Island Bridge and Tancook ferry infrastructure upgrades, among other projects.

While the document refers to planning efforts by Link Nova Scotia to address traffic demands in and around Halifax Regional Municipality, Tilley said it would not be until next year when studies are complete that money would begin to flow for projects aimed at improving traffic patterns and congestion.

One of the longest-running projects Tilley’s department is dealing with — twinning Highway 101 between Falmouth and Three Miles Plains and a new aboiteau for the Avon River outside Windsor — has money set aside in the plan, but the province continues to await a response from the federal government to its design proposal.

Tilley said he’s hoping to have a response sometime in January.

“Once we receive approval on that project, we’re looking at about a three-year build out.”

Halifax bridges, isthmus not part of plan

Despite all the work listed in the plan for the coming fiscal year and outyears up to and including 2030-31, several major construction projects looming for the government are not included in the document.

Upgrades to the Chignecto isthmus, the strip of land that connects Nova Scotia to the rest of mainland Canada, and any work on the Halifax Harbour bridges, will be addressed outside the plan, Public Works officials said Wednesday.

It’s expected there will be news soon about the work on the isthmus, while Tilley said conversations continue about potential work for the bridges that connect Halifax and Dartmouth.

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