Windley Contracting Ltd. from Nanaimo won the Deputy Minister’s Contractor of the Year Award in the grading category, for its work on the Highway 97, Winfield to Oyama four-laning project.
Nine kilometres of new four-lane highway were constructed to replace the last two-lane section of Highway 97 between the Okanagan Connector and Vernon. The contractor excavated and placed 1.7 million cubic metres of rock and soils during the two year project, which included construction of two overpasses, one at Wood Lake near Oceola Road at the south end and one at Gatzke Road at the north end, to connect the existing Highway 97 to the new alignment.
“This award to Windley Contracting is well deserved,” said Todd Stone, minister of transportation and infrastructure. “The Winfield to Oyama four-laning was a very large, complex project and the company successfully met all the challenges it presented, while managing partnerships and protecting the environment at the same time.”
Two underpasses were built at Old Mission Road and Lake Country Access to provide access to Crown land on the west side of the highway. Truck climbing lanes were built for slower moving traffic and a concrete median barrier was installed for added safety.
The company worked with the Westbank First Nation and the Okanagan Indian Band to preserve heritage values and protect archaeological sites found along the corridor. Workers also took extraordinary measures to ensure that local wildlife was undisturbed by the project.
Two environmentally sensitive areas with bat habitat were preserved, and lizards and rattlesnakes found along the route during construction were captured and relocated to two newly constructed reptile dens.
The Deputy Minister’s Contractor of the Year Awards recognize construction and maintenance companies demonstrating excellence in the categories of grading, paving, bridges and structures, and highway maintenance work throughout the province.
