Transportation

Location

Vancouver to Whistler, BC

Owner

British Columbia Ministry of Transportation

Contractor

S2S Transportation Group

Value

$560 million

Completion

October 2009

The Province of British Columbia, represented by the Ministry of Transportation and BC Transportation Financing Authority, awarded this design-build-finance-operate project to S2S Transportation Group, which includes Peter Kiewit Sons Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, as the design-builder. The project is one of the first public-private partnerships to reach financial close within the North American transportation market. The design-build team is supported by prime designer Hatch Mott MacDonald and approximately 20 other local sub-design firms.

The project involves upgrades to 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the Sea-to-Sky Highway (Highway 99) between Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. Work includes the construction of 48 new bridges/interchanges, 219 MSE retaining walls, 2.4 million cubic meters of earthwork, and 450,000 metric tons of asphalt paving. The project is managed in four sections, defined by geography, to enhance efficiency and assure construction quality.

Crews began construction in August 2005, and work is scheduled for completion in fall 2009, in time for Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in February. All work will be performed under existing highway traffic conditions, with minimal traffic closures and rerouting. Peter Kiewit Sons Co. has worked diligently to address stakeholder concerns, ranging from aboriginal employment opportunities to municipal traffic and utility issues.