Paving budget doubles on P.E.I.

The P.E.I. government is spending millions of dollars more on paving than it had originally budgeted this year.

Transportation Minister Steven Myers says the province added an additional $54-million to its annual paving budget, originally set at $46 million. That means more than $100 million will be spent on highway improvementsthis year, a cost that will be shared between the federal and provincial government.

He said additional funding was added not only to improve the condition of the roads, but to help stimulate the economy, which has been negatively impactedduringthe global pandemic.

"The work definitely needed to be done," Myers said.

"We were way behind in a lot of areas as far as paving went. But we were also able to help stimulate the economy through some of the means that we had available which were our infrastructure dollars."

Myer said much of the work is being carried out along Route 2.

"If you went from Tignish to Souris right now on Route 2 there's probably 15 or 16 new kilometres."

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