Work on improvements to a key intersection in Fort Nelson will begin today by a Prince George company.
IDL Projects will complete the $1.8 million work on new traffic lights and turning lanes on the Alaska Highway and Simpson Trail intersection.
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Bill Streeper called this "a big-time step" for his community.
It is the first part of a larger Alaska Highway Revitalization Project that Streeper said will improve traffic flow throughout the community.
"It's going to improve the crossing of the highway," he said. "This is something that council has been working on for quite a few years."
The Ministry of Transportation announced the intersection improvement on June 2.
Currently, the intersection does not have traffic lights - only stop signs on the north and south sides of the intersection.
"The new traffic lights, turning lanes and traffic islands will increase safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles accessing both the new facilities to the north and the park to the south," Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm said.
The ministry expects the projects to be completed by September.
Half of the money for the intersection improvement will come from the Ministry, and the other half from the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.
The Alaska Highway is a provincial highway. Normally, work on provincial highways is entirely paid for by the Ministry of Transportation.
However, this case is different. According to Streeper, turning lanes - which will be part of this work - are not considered part of the highway, but are instead considered a municipal road.
Rather than do the work that the municipality and the province has to do at different times, Streeper said that he and council wanted to do the work in one go, under one contractor.
