The Bulkley Nas area will see a new maintenance crew working on the highways and provincial roadways starting next month.
Starting Oct.1, Dawson Road Maintenance will now have responsibility for Smithers, the Hazeltons, Stewart and both highways 16 and 37 North.
Billabong Road and Bridge Maintenance was the original contractor but Dawson Road Maintenance beat out the company for the new contract after improvements were made.
Dan Palesh, Contact Director of Highway Contract Renewal explained what some of the new requirements are in the new contract.
“There’s a return to bare pavement quicker now after a weather event when it’s minus 9 degrees Celsius or warmer. The previous standard was 48 hours for a winter class A highway, the new standard is 24 hours, we now got requirements for compact snow maintenance when it’s minus 9 or colder,” he said.
Other requirements that are on the contract are the contractor must remove potholes in the compact service and increased patrol frequencies during a weather event which has increased from 4 hours to 90 minutes.
In the old contract, it was not mandatory for the contractors to remove the potholes.
Billabong has been in Service Area 25 for 15 years, which is how long the contracts run.
Palesh also said the employees who are currently working for Billabong will not lose their jobs.
“There was a succession in the contract so, what that means is that the contractors obligated to keep the employees that were existing- the unionized employees,” he said.
The new agreement has a term of 10 years with an option for a five-year extension.
Dawson Road Maintenance is the current contractor for South Cariboo, Central Cariboo, and North Peace.