N.B.’s $4.5-billion Landry list

MONCTON — Highway 11 across the North shore of New Brunswick from Shediac to Miramichi might be awfully scenic, but it sure ain’t truck-friendly.

If Transportation Minister Denis Landry gets his way, though, that will change soon and the stretch of road will be four-laned, which will go nicely with the upgraded port at Belledune.

Of course all of the above depends on Feds as well as the munificence of the province’s private sector.

According to the Saint John Telegraph Journal, the four-laning of Hwy 11 is part of the province’s new 10-year transportation strategy, which Landry explained in a meeting at the Greater Moncton International Airport last week.

Overall, the scheme calls for about $4.4 billion in highway upgrading and another $50 million for rail.

In all, Landry’s talking about 40 different projects, ranging from fixing up the airport to expanding the ports at Saint John and Belledune, and he said he’s looking for about $2.2 billion from the provincial and federal governments.

"We are expecting the money will be there from the feds and from ourselves," Landry said.

At least one wellspring of support is the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA). The APTA Executive Director Peter Nelson said the 10-year plan illustrates how the private sector can participate in the development of a province’s infrastructure.

"The role of government in all of this is to be a resource as opposed to a leader,” Nelson was quoted as saying. "We really think that the leadership should come from the private sector."

The Atlantic Provinces, he added, should change stop competing against each other and focus on competing against the global market.