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Highways to be reclassified soon

Fatal accidents on Hwy. 16 this winter and expected increased industrial traffic, the province is changing the highway’s designation.

With a slew of fatal accidents on Hwy. 16 this winter and expected increased industrial traffic, the province is changing the highway’s designation.

Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced Tuesday morning that the highway, from Prince Rupert to the B.C./Alberta border and Hwy. 97 north from Prince George, will be moved from a Class B designation to Class A, changing how snow removal and maintenance is conducted.

“A Class A highway has more patrols,” Stone said during a press conference at the CN Intermodal facility in Prince George. “Patrols will take place every four hours as opposed to every eight hours. The maximum amount of snow accumulation that is permitted on the highway before it has to be removed is quite a bit less … four centimetres, as opposed to six centimetres. There will be more snow removal, more plowing, there will also be more salt and sand applications. All tolled, it represents a heightened level of winter road maintenance.”

It will also mean renegotiating contracts with the six highways maintenance contractors that are responsible for maintaining the stretches of highways. Stone expects the changes will cost the province between $2 million and $3 million per year.

“Those dollars I have found within our ministries,” he said.

He said the province has looked at the number of accidents and fatalities along Hwy. 16, in addition to traffic volumes in making the decision to reclassify the highways.

“It is absolutely the right time to reclassify Hwy. 16 and Highway 97,” he said. “It will immediately improve safety in those corridors.”

The province has put $129 million into Hwy. 16 improvements for past four years.

The changes are expected to be in effect by mid-to-late February.

According to a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson, the ministry will meet with highway contractors soon to discuss the details of the pending reclassification.

Improved snow removal and sanding standards may mean increased demands on personnel and equipment levels for local highway contractors.  Maintenance contracts already contain clauses to address the possibility of classification changes and associated costs, the ministry spokesperson said.

According to B.C. Ministry of Transportation maintenance specifications for highway maintenance contracts, specific changes in the reclassification include: highway snow removal must begin within 90 minutes of an accumulation of four centimetres of snow (previous standard was two hours after six centimetres of snow); application of winter abrasive and chemical snow and ice control must begin within five hours after snowfall (previous standard was eight hours after snowfall).

Loose snow and slush must be removed from highway travel lanes within two days of the conclusion of the last snowfall and related snow removal operations. The previous standard was three days. In this case, the ministry standards acknowledge that temperatures may not allow for the complete removal of compacted snow and ice.

The schedule for the application of abrasive or chemical traction control to icy surfaces as the result of freezing rain or black ice is also increased under the reclassification. Sanding must occur within two hours of when deficiencies are noted by, or reported to, the highway contractor. Previously, the standard was three hours.

“I am aware of the classification change and have been in meetings with the Minister in regard to this change,” said Lakes District Maintenance Ltd. chief executive officer Wendy Benyk.  “This will certainly present some challenges for Lakes District Maintenance which we are currently working on.”

With files from Lakes District News.