Friday, March 1, 1968 The usual maintenance of replacing worn out drainage pipes, filling- and the levelling of washouts with other sandstone or gravel, repairing and replacing drain¬ age, speed and direction signs, cutting of weeds and bushes along the shoulders of the highway, was mostly carried on by maintenance crews in each district. The repairing and the replacing of posts and railing on bridges and high embankments in the province, were carried out by the bridge maintenance crews during the year. Summary of Construction work carried out in Kings County was 16.1 miles; , 10.6 miles; , 20.6 miles, making a total of 47.3 miles. Roads which were surfaced with gravel or sandstone in Kings County, 16.1 miles; , 18.4 miles; , 18.3 miles. Snow traps removed totalled 496,000 cubic yards. The total new roads paved in the Province was 57.7 miles and all-weather roads totalled 181,500 tons of asphalt, which is equivalent, Mr. Speaker , of 82 miles of standard pavement. (Applause) The total asphalt laid during the season was 304,000; tons, which would be the equivalent of 140 miles of standard 20 foot pavement. (Applause) Total bridges built in 1967 was 26, of which 19 ranged in length from 10 feet to 400 feet; and seven were under 10 feet. The Northumberland Strait Crossing, Mr. Speaker , continues to be a most in¬ teresting feature of our developing transportation system. Approach roads on both sides of the Strait have been graded. Contracts were let for two grade separation in Prince Edward Island costing $200,000 and $800,000 respectively. Col. Edward Churchill , a highly qualified engineer, has been appointed by the Federal Department of Public Works as co-ordinator to assist in speeding up and supervising the construction of the Causeway. Recently, Mr. Speaker , he was in the Province for a day, and he informed me that a great deal of work has been accomplished since his appointment. He hoped to be able to present a proposal to the Government in the very near future, one which he was confident would be accepted by the Federal Government. Snow Plowing — Last Winter, Mr. Speaker , for the first time the Depart¬ ment of Highways tried an experiment in snow fighting, possibly never before tried in this province. We ploughed lanes at no charge to the owner. This was brought about because we found in past years where government plows were used lanes were opened free of charge. In areas where contractor machines were under con¬ struction to the government for snow removal, a charge was made for opening lanes. We further reasoned that open lanes are as necessary to the business of the Pro¬ vince as open roads, that people would be willing to wait for the roads to be open¬ ed and winged back before asking to have their lanes opened, and that they would ask for the service only when they really needed an open lane for business purposes. Mr. Speaker , there were some who doubted that people would wait for the service, and it was predicted that the costs would be high. However, I felt that we should know, so went ahead with this experiment. What did we find out? I found out that the people did not want to wait, some demanded instant service whether they had a business reason or not. Costs were high, as 65% of our roads were ploughed under contract, we now have an accurate record of what plowing lanes means. The cost of ploughing the average lane was $6.00. In some areas the average rose to $11.00. One man's lane for instance was ploughed 28 times. The Department (who plough only 35% of the roads) at one time last winter had twelve plows broken at one time. Broken down in lanes which are too narrow and improperly ditched for snow ploughing. Many operators were frequently urged to work on lanes before their roads were ready for the next storm. —Ill—