Paving construction ongoing on Woyenne Reserve

A road construction project to repave sections of the Woyenne Reserve, which began in late May, is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.

Lake Babine Nation (LBN) Capital and Infrastructure Director Bernard Patrick spoke to Lakes District News about the details of the project.

“The purpose of the project is to put pavement in lower parts of the reserve that have roads that have never been paved,” he said. “There is also repair work being done in the upper part of the reserve on certain roads that are already paved.”

A large portion of Tenth Avenue, Lome Street, Babine Crescent and Centre Street have had the dirt cleaned and smoothed over, but pavement has yet to be laid down.

Paving isn’t the only aspect of the project, as ditches are being cleaned out to make way to insert new culverts on the side of Centre Road, which Patrick says will help with drainage.

Terus Construction, based in Surrey, was awarded the contract for the project. Currently, there are several pieces of heavy machinery located at the corner of Centre Road and Sus Avenue, including two excavators, two bulldozers and several trucks along with half a dozen workers on site as well.

According to Patrick, the total cost of the project is $4.6 million. A portion of that was paid for by LBN, with some funding coming from Indigenous Canada as well.