Contractor of the Year awards given out in Victoria

The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure honoured their Contractors of the Year at an awards ceremony last month in Victoria, B.C. The 13th annual Deputy Minister’s Contractor of the Year Awards were handed out during the B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association AGM.

"The awards are representative of the cooperation and what can be done when we work together with the ministry," said B.C. Road Builders president Jack Davidson. "We have a great relationship and we service the province together."

Awards were handed out in several different categories. Interoute Construction Ltd. (DBA Selkirk Paving) took home top honours in the paving category for its work on the Highway 3 Bombi Junction to Nelway Junction Resurfacing Project.

The $4.8 million contract included paving 26 kilometres of Highway 3 and five kilometres of side roads, as well as paving municipal roads in partnership with the villages of Fruitvale and Salmo.

The Crescent Valley-based company won the award for excellent quality control and their brand new asphalt plant that resulted in reduced emissions. In addition, the ministry said, the crew worked in close partnership with local governments, donated work at the Salmo Youth Centre and on a parking project in Crescent Valley, and responded to a local fire in Castlegar.

Peter Bros. Construction Ltd. and O.K. Industries were the runners up. The Contractor of the Year for Bridges and Structures went to Coquitlam Ridge Constructors for their work on the Road 40 – Apple Springs Bluff Bridge.

The $386,000 contract was awarded to the Surrey-based company to construct a new two-lane 17.5-metre-long bridge to replace the existing structure on Lillooet/Pioneer Road 40.

"It was a small structure in size, but it offered some unique challenges," said Jamie O’Farrell, a superintendent for the company.

They were working near a cliff with a 500 foot drop off, so proper fall protection was extremely important. O’Farrell said they engaged the local Aboriginal communities, which benefitted everyone involved. "They were helping out with traffic control and some equipment," he said.

The ministry said the contractor was able to overcome a significant geotechnical issue encountered midway through the project by working closely with the ministry engineering team to identify and implement a solution. They completed the work on time and on budget. Forbes Industrial Contractors Ltd. and Kingston Construction Ltd. were finalists.

Cantex-Okanagan Construction Ltd. was named the Contractor of the Year for Grading. The Okanagan-based company took top honours for its work on the Highway 97, 74 Mile to 76 Mile Four Laning. This $7.8 million contract involved widening 4.5 kilometres of Highway 97, as part of the $200 million investment into Phase 2 of the Cariboo Connector Upgrade Project.

"A lot of the challenges we faced were environmental issues with widening the highway in environmentally sensitive areas," said Keith Lowenstein with Cantex-Okanagan Construction.

The ministry said the company completed the project ahead of schedule, on budget and exceeded expectations with their quality-management plan, a traffic management plan and their emphasis on environmental management. They said the company took a proactive approach to working in wetlands and local ponds. The project included swamp areas that reached up to two metres deep. These bodies of water were home to frogs, some of which were species at risk. "We had to relocate frogs," Lowenstein said.

Interoute Construction Ltd. (DBA DGS Astro Paving Ltd.) and Dawson Construction Limited were finalists. Road and bridge maintenance contractors also earned kudos. VSA Highway Maintenance Ltd. of Merrit was name Contractor of the Year for its upkeep of Service Area 14 – Nicola. The ministry said that they won for their continued focus on building relationships within the local communities.

In addition, they lauded their innovation for their beet juice production plant and liquid application program, which they said is leading the way for road maintenance in B.C. The company also leads a unique multi-agency response to winter events on the Snowshed Hill section of the Coquihalla. Emcon Services Inc. and Mainroad Howe Sound Contracting LP were the runners up.

BA Blacktop Ltd. of North Vancouver was the sole winner in the safety innovation category for its Quick Response Safety HUB. It links their safety policies and procedures to smartphones via Quick Response (QR) codes.

Workers are able to access safety information by scanning stickers placed on equipment, including pre-trip inspection check lists, operator safety protocols and or equipment-servicing information. John Dyble, the current deputy minister to the premier, handed out the awards and discussed their origins. He was the former assistant deputy minister (ADM) of transportation and the ADM of highways when Dan Doyle was the deputy Minister of Transportation.

"We started talking about how we can show some of the great work that the contractors do," he recalled. "We had a discussion around that and that’s when we dreamed up the idea of the Deputy Minister’s awards." He had some praise for the assembled roadbuilding contractors. "I’m always impressed with the roadbuilders, at how a group that competes so heavily with each other can get together and talk about issues that face the industry, and the ministry can engage with that and work through those issues," he said. 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, safety innovation, and highway maintenance work throughout the province.