Transportation

With third-generation road builder Donald Chisholm forming an historic partnership with once fierce rival Dexter Construction to win the $300 million 40-kilometre twinning of a real deathtrap the 104 HWY, the win for the Nova Construction owner gives credence to his native Antigonish as a community road building force.

Donald Chisholm comes from a long line of Clan Chisholm highly successful road builders.

NS Road Building Industry: A Big Business Force

To understand NS Highway minister Lloyd Hines aggressive pursuit to twin the 104, 103 & 101 HWYs, and its significant meaning on the Nova Scotia economy, I have studied an economic impact assessment on the ambitious twinning program.

Consulting firm Canmac Economics Ltd, was hired in the last few years by the Nova Scotia Roadbuilders Association boss, Grant Feltmate to study the economic benefits of the circa $800 million twinning programs now underway across the province.

For decades, the Nova Scotia Roadbuilders Association operated a closed shop across the province – preventing road builders from outside the province from bidding – back in 1949, when the association was formed, and well into the 1980s, only road builders from Nova Scotia were active in the provincial road building industry.

But, that began to change in the 1990s, when Prince Edward Island’s Chapman Brothers around 1994 nabbed a paving job in Cape Breton.

Exclusive: Highways Minister Lloyd Hines To Explore Twinning Options to Bridgewater & Canso Causeway

Now that the fourth and final major twinning project is soon to see a construction start, I refer to the 104 HWY from New Glasgow outskirts to Antigonish, NS Highways minister Lloyd Hines is now going to mull over options to twin the 103 HWY all the way to Bridgewater.

And, he also tells The Notebook, he will also commence a study to determine how to twin all the way to the Canso Causeway.

The Port of Halifax released its year end containerized cargo figures, and it’s another banner year for the movement of containers.

In what is the lasting legacy for just departed 17-year port CEO, Karen Oldfield, the port has recorded record growth since 2017.

Containerized cargo in 2019, saw a throughput of 546,691 TEUs – twenty-foot equivalent boxes.

As I reported Friday morning, NS Highways minister, Lloyd Hines awarded the largest ever road building contract in the history of Nova Scotia.

That is the $300 million twinning of a 40-kilometre route of the 104 Trans Canada Highway, in Northeastern Nova Scotia.

The massive job is going to NS road building entities, Dexter Construction & Nova Construction, fierce rivals who formed a partnership to nab the lucrative work.

There had been interest from international road builders from as far as France and Spain eyeing the 40-kilometre 104 HWY twinning work, so the award to the partnership of Dexter Construction and Nova Construction demonstrates Nova Scotia road builders can compete and win in a global road building arena.

Dexter and Nova were not seen as the front runners for the job. A bid from a partnership of French and Spanish road building giants was thought to have the inside track, in part because it had partnered with an Indigenous group from Nova Scotia.

The firms who fell short in the massive bid award include Atlantic Safelink Partners, and Osprey Transportation.

104 HWY: Highways department Source: ‘Carl Potter & Donald Chisholm Left Other Bidders In The Dust’

NS Highways minister Lloyd Hines has awarded a $300 M twinning project on the deathtrap 104 HWY to Carl Potter’s Dexter Construction & Donald Chisholm’s Nova Construction.

“The company submitted the highest scoring proposal, based on technical approach, financing and overall cost”, he added.

So how close was Dexter-Nova’s bid in comparison to bids from behemoth contractors who came from France & Spain?

Fire Chief Joe MacDonald says he does not want the announced 40-kilometre twinned section of deathtrap Hwy. 104 between New Glasgow and Antigonish to be named in his honour.

Family members of those that lost their lives in automobile accidents on Hwy. 104, and many motorists in northeastern Nova Scotia have taken to social media pages to suggest the route by named in honour of Fire Chief Joe.

If anyone can be single-handedly credited with the plan to build a safer twinned highway, it has got to be the Barney’s River fire chief.