Like the Coquihalla, the highway maintenance contract for the Shuswap-Okanagan region will also be switching hands this year.

The Ministry of Transportation has awarded its maintenance contract to Acciona Infrastructure Maintenance beginning on April 1. Acciona, a Spanish multinational company, will also be taking over the contract for the South Okanagan Similkameen on May 1.

Corporate officer for the Village of Chase Shawn Flaherty says staff and council have no pressing issues for maintenance on Highway 1 through that area.

“All the residents of our municipality, if they go somewhere, have to travel Highway 1. So there’s a relative important to maintenance of that highway,” he says.

“We definitely don’t have a high-elevation stretch of roadway similar to the Coquihalla, which is easily the most contentious stretch of highway in the province. This is relatively low elevation, valley bottom. Pretty general in terms of maintenance as far as I can tell.”

The maintenance zone includes the Trans-Canada from Monte Creek to just west of Revelstoke. JPW Road and Bridge has been the maintenance contractor since 2004 but its contract will end next month.

Flaherty says the village is more concerned about the project to four-lane Highway 1 through Chase when it comes to highway safety.

“I think any of the motor vehicle incidents on the highway are more related to the twists and turns and the curves and narrowness of the highway, and less on the maintenance itself.”