Ministerial Statement – Minister Provides Update on Winter Maintenance Activities

  • Transportation and Works

March 28, 2018

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Steve Crocker, Minister of Transportation and Works


Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House to highlight initiatives undertaken by the Department of Transportation and Works for increased highway safety over the winter season.

Earlier this month, we expanded our Provincial Plow Tracker service to include all depots on the island portion of the province and we continue to work to expand the service to the Labrador region.

The service has seen significant use this year and is a very useful tool to help motorists plan safer trips during the winter.

In recent weeks, we expanded our use of technology to help motorists make informed decisions before travelling by adding two new highway cameras – one on the Trans-Canada Highway at Whitbourne and another on Route 210 near Terrenceville and Dunn’s River – for a total of 33 highway cameras motorists can access online. We will add four more in the coming fiscal year.

This year, we also introduced the province’s first-ever tow plow on the Avalon Peninsula – an innovative piece of equipment that plows and salts two lanes at the same time. This is an initiative we will expand next winter.

Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2016, we announced we would schedule overnight snow clearing shifts on nights when weather conditions warranted it. Crews throughout our 13 routes were out overnight more than 200 times this season. We also took advantage of mild temperatures during the day to make road repairs that would otherwise not be possible or safe in colder temperatures.

Mr. Speaker, even though winter has ended and spring is upon us, we encourage motorists to continue to be prepared for winter driving conditions, as we all know too well that inclement weather can still lead to hazardous driving conditions in Newfoundland and Labrador – even in April and May.

In closing, we should all commend the efforts of our more than 700 professionals who work at all hours and in severe conditions to keep our provincial highways safe and clear.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

2018 03 28 2:50 pm