Prince George, BC – The provincial government has announced more than $13-million dollars in highway and bridge improvements for northwestern BC.

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Mary Polak, says, "These are important improvements to our transportation infrastructure in the Northwest region – for the burgeoning oil and gas industry, for expansions at the Port of Prince Rupert and for families and tourists that travel these routes."

The largest contract of $5.9-million dollars has been awarded to Belvedere Place Contracting of Kelowna for a new bridge on Highway 37, just east of Stewart to permanently replace a temporary structure built following flooding in the fall of 2011.  Work will begin at the end of this month on a 51-metre steel and concrete bridge with steel pilings and stronger approaches to protect the structure from further damage in case of high water in Bitter Creek.  The new bridge is scheduled to be complete by the middle of October.

A $4.8-million dollar contract to pave a 27-kilometre stretch of Highway 16, east of Prince Rupert, will be carried out by Peter’s Bros. Construction Ltd. of Penticton, beginning in early July.

And a $2.4-million dollar sealcoating project has been awarded to White Bear Industries of Terrace for a 65-kilometre portion of Highway 16 east of Terrace, between St. Croix Creek and Boulder West Creek and on Highway 37 from Bitter Creek Bridge to Stewart.  The Ministry says the section of Highway 16 is heavily used by the trucking indusry supporting expansions at the port and Rio Tinto Alcan’s operations near Kitimat.