A crucial highway in a rural setting has now been made much safer and enjoyable thanks to the efficient and excellent work accomplished by Dawson Civil.
Located north of Barriere, Dunn Lake Road is the only highway for community members to access essential goods and services. In the past, annual flooding, windy corners and rough surfaces made travel quite dangerous for users when taking their kids to school, grabbing groceries or other travel. Successfully completing a project that carried such a high level of importance for the community made this project even more special for Dawson Civil.
“We made a conceded effort to create an open line of communication with the public to regularly update them about this project because we knew our work would impact their daily routine. We found that our great relationship with the community really worked well for them and our team,” said Rob Gray, Dawson Civil Superintendent.
Working in sections, one lane at a time, Dawson Civil staggered their plans over the course of the 11-kilometre-plus section of highway. Detours weren’t an option for the public and the highway had to remain open during construction. Dawson Civil took a proactive approach to support, communicate and answer any questions the public or key stakeholders might have had.
“Having to constantly realign traffic really impacted production, but our team did a great job to keep everyone on ahead of schedule,” said Gray.
Crews began by stripping the old, aged highway to its fill limits. Once the ground was approved, road base fill and gravel was put in place in preparation for paving. Along the way, more than 30 culverts were installed to enhance the drainage system.
Dawson Civil also did their part to look after Mother Nature as well.
Nearby wetlands could have posed a problem for some companies, but Civil worked closely with environmental subcontractors to not disturb the wildlife. The environmental contractors were thoroughly impressed with Dawson’s care and attention to detail when a snake den got uncovered during an excavation, exposing hundreds of hibernating Gardner snakes. Through working with the environmental team, nearly all the snakes were saved.
Each project presents its own challenges. Dawson Civil managed to navigate those challenges through exceptional work, precise management and open lines of communication, enabling the surrounding community to navigate their new highway much safer from now on.
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