Potholes no more for highway north of Beaverdell
By Boundary Sentinel
Potholes threatening to swallow whole people will soon be fixed as the Province of B.C. signed a contract for resurfacing work on Highway 33. The contract, worth more than $2.4 million, has been awarded to Peter’s Bros. Construction to resurface 25 kilometres of the road south of Big White Road and north of Beaverdell. Regional Area E Director Bill Baird is not pleased that the province is still undecided about road development from Beaverdell to Big White for fire safety evacuation, but agrees that Highway 33 is in dire need of repair. “We’re trying to get a passing lane up there, but there has been land issues around that area,” said Baird. “We’ve been trying to get an alternate road into Big White. At the present time if there’s a fire in there in the summer time they are stuck. I’d rather see this money spent on an alternate road.” This project will strengthen and extend the life of the road while benefiting area residents, tourists, industry and others providing a smoother and safer ride. “This is a well-travelled stretch of road given how close it is to the Big White ski resort. Drivers will definitely notice a significant improvement after this work is complete,” explained Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater.
The road work is expected to begin in late May and be complete by the end of July. The work done will be hot-in-place recycling, a cost effective method of road resurfacing which also provides environmental benefits. Hot-in-place paving is extolled as an environmentally-friendly process saving on fuel, and lowering processing emissions.
