Nova Scotia awards $718 million contract for highway twinning project

Highway 104, the artery connecting mainland Nova Scotia to Cape Breton Island, is seen on Tuesday, May 24, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)

HALIFAX — A contract been awarded for the twinning of a notorious stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in northeastern Nova Scotia.

The province says Dexter Nova Alliance outbid two other companies shortlisted for the $717.9 million project.

The consortium is to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new twinned section of Highway 104 over a 20-year public-private partnership.

Ottawa is contributing $90 million to the project under the National Trade Corridors Fund.

Construction is to start in June and be completed no later than the end of 2023 on the 38-kilometre section of Highway 104 between Sutherland's River and Antigonish.

The project includes 28 kilometres of new two-lane twinned highway and 10 kilometres of new four-lane twinned highway.