The City of Revelstoke will receive $700,000 for the highway intersection from the provincial government, the Minister for Transportation announced Thursday.
"We know how significant the volumes of traffic are that are passing through your city and we want more of them to stop and spend more money," said Minister Todd Stone from the steps of city hall on Thursday afternoon. "We know the congestion can be pretty bad at certain times on a lot of days."
The money will cover a good chunk of the $2.1 million intersection project and should mean taxpayers won't be on the hook for any of the project costs.
Construction of the second phase of the intersection began this week.
Stone also presented $50,000 to the Revelstoke & District Health Foundation to go towards the Queen Victoria Hospital Heli-Pad Project. The money, along with another donation that is expected to be announced shortly, means the $465,000 will have been raised to build the heli-pad at the hospital.
Mayor Mark McKee thanked the minister for the funding.
“When we talk about the heli-pad, we all have recognized the area we live in. We’re a resource-based community, we’re a resort community, we’re a community on the Trans-Canada Highway," he said. "There’s all kinds of potential for serious accidents, for higher levels of care that’s needed, and the faster you get those levels of care the better off the patient is going to be."
Correction: The original version of this article said the highway intersection would cost $1.8 million. In fact, the cost has been been revised upwards to $2.1 million.