Minister announces study for White's Road improvements

The Department of Transportation and Works is looking at the possibility of improvements to one of the main transportation arteries in Bay St. George.

Minister Tom Hedderson made an announcement on June 25 that his department is in the process of conducting a feasibility study for potential future upgrades to White's Road.

"We believe that improvements to White's Road would provide better access to key areas ... and to maintain an effective flow of traffic throughout the area," he said, during an address to the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce.

"This would not only be of benefit to people of the Stephenville area, but also to people of the Port au Port region generally who use this road extensively."

Minister Hedderson said concerns had been raised to his department regarding the roadway over the years with regards to such issues as flooding and traffic flow.

He cited a section of the road in the Noel's Pond area where water runs down from higher elevations onto a flood plane area and into a river that crosses White's Road.

"In this particular area, the river has very little support and water doesn't drain quickly or effectively - this leads to flooding in the area," said the minister.

"We also have a frequent problem of sediment and gravel being carried down the river ... and deposited under the bridge where the river crosses the road. Our maintenance crews are finding it necessary to clean this debris from under the bridge on a very frequent basis."

He said the department intends to explore a number of options for improvement, starting with a desktop planning exercise that will be overseen by Cyril McCarthy, the department's western region director.

"We plan to do the necessary fieldwork as part of the study beginning this fall," added the minister.

"Over the coming months, we will be completing that engineering work, producing cost estimates that would allow us to consider possible upgrades as part of a future provincial roads program."

In addition, he said the department would consult with town councils, businesses and residents for their input.

"We are always striving to improve the transportation network throughout the province and where we see areas for improvement, we have always been open to studying options that might improve our public infrastructure," said the minister.

Other work

In addition to the White's Road study, Minister Hedderson highlighted other upcoming roadwork in the Bay St. George area.

"Just this Wednesday [June 23], we called a tender, which includes the upgrading and paving of approximately 23 km of Trans-Canada Highway between Fischells River and Crabbes River," said the minister.

He noted this project would be cost-shared 50/50 between the provincial and federal governments.

The tender also includes pulverizing and paving of sections of Route 462 in Fox Island River and sections of road through Boswarlos, and the paving of sections of Route 470 between Port aux Basques and Harbour Le Cou in the Burgeo-La Poile region.

editor@thegeorgian.ca