More than $250 million has been announced for highway construction projects for 2024-25, as part of the Provincial Government’s Multi-Year Provincial Roads Plan. This investment is part of the $1.4 billion in improvements to provincial roads and highways announced last year.

The Roads Plan outlines a list of highway construction projects planned for the 2024-25 highway construction season and a partial list of projects planned for 2025-26, which will be updated in early 2025. In addition to major highways and regional trunk roads, the plan also includes many provincially-owned local roads. More details on these projects can be found in the backgrounder below.

The Honourable John G. Abbott, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, will be available to speak to media about the Roads Plan today (Tuesday, March 19) at the Media Centre, Ground Floor, East Block, Confederation Building beginning at 11:30 a.m. He will be joined by Jim Organ, Executive Director, Heavy Civil Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In February, residents were encouraged to provide information on roads to be considered for the plan such as region, route name or number, the nearest municipality or landmark, and the type of road issue being experienced. More than 400 suggestions were received. This information was then aligned with the technical input already received from the department’s engineers to help finalize this year’s plan.

Other significant factors in determining the list of highway construction projects selected for the plan include the impacts of climate change; commercial, industry and tourism impacts; daily traffic volumes; road condition ratings; and populations serviced.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure has already begun issuing tenders for road construction work to begin this construction season. Tenders have been issued for various projects including:

• Replacement of two bridges at Windmill Bight (Route 330);
• Rehabilitation of Change Island Bridge (Route 335-14);
• Evaluation of Bay D’Espoir Bridge (Route 361);
• Rehabilitation of Portland Creek, Bound Brook, West River, Castor River, Bowing Brook Bridges (Route 430);
• Rehabilitation of Southwest Brook (Route 414), East Brook Bridge (Route 413), Black Brook Bridge (Route 410), Pacquet Bridge (Route 417), and Shoe Cove North Bridge (Route 414); and,
• Rehabilitation of Lloyds River, Dry Pond Brook, Burnt Pond Brook Bridges (Route 480) and Crabbs River Bridge (Route 1).

The department will continue issuing tenders throughout the next few months in preparation for the upcoming construction season.

Information on tenders issued and awarded by the department and other public bodies is available by visiting www.merx.com/govnl

Information on active highway construction projects and repairs is also available by visiting nl511.ca or the nl511 app.

Quotes
“Once again, we have developed a balanced approach for this year’s Roads Plan to address the many road infrastructure needs in the province, supported by our government’s unprecedented multi-year funding commitment of $1.4 billion over five years. In collaboration with the Heavy Civil Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, we look forward to improving the province’s road infrastructure throughout Newfoundland and Labrador facilitated by our early tendering process. I also want to thank residents who provided information on roads in their area for consideration in this year’s plan.”
Honourable John G. Abbott
Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

“The Heavy Civil Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is pleased to see that the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is continuing with commitments to present the construction Industry, as well as the general public, with early indications of government’s provincial infrastructure plans. Multi-year budgeting commitments and early tenders are extremely important. It enables contractors and the many support and service companies to be better prepared for the upcoming road construction season(s). All stakeholders can plan their work more efficiently, make more informed investment decisions as well as ensuring staffing and training are aligned with work requirements. The industry looks forward to working with government in the upcoming construction season.”
Jim Organ
Executive Director, Heavy Civil Association of Newfoundland and Labrador