It may still be months before a request for proposal is put out for a four-laning project on Highway 1 through Chase.

The Ministry of Transportation had said an invitation to bid on the project would go out in the summer, but now says that bid will be put out “in the coming months.”

Transport Minister Claire Trevena didn’t speak directly to the project’s timeline when asked.

“We are committed to making sure we are investing both in the infrastructure and in people, and making sure that we have the safest highway system that we possibly can,” Trevena says.

“We need to make sure that the goods – whether it’s coming from the port going down east or coming from the east towards the port – that we actually have a very safe thoroughfare. But if it were easy, it would already be done. I think that we’re still working through these project, and anticipate to have them out as soon as possible.”

Trevena also dodged a question on whether the project will still come in at within its budget of $199 million dollars.

The first phase of the project will see three-and-a-half kilometres of Highway 1 widened just west of Chase.

Kamloops-South MLA Todd Stone, who first announced the project while Transportation Minister, voiced concerns in the spring that the project through his riding was then two full years behind schedule.