Cobequid Pass
Location: Between Masstown and Thomson Station, Nova Scotia
Status: In Operation
Provincial/Federal/Municipal: Provincial
Date of Financial Close: 1996
Date of Substantial Completion: November 1997
Type of P3: DBFOM
Value of Partnership: $112.9 million (construction)
Handback: 2021
The Cobequid Pass project was the first highway project in Canada to include private financing when it opened in November 1997. It was also completed in less than 20 months — record time for a project of this size.
"As a result of the public-private partnership, Cobequid Pass was built more quickly, less expensively and with less risk to the public,” said John Beck, President of Atlantic Highways Corporation (AHC), the private sector partner involved in the development of the highway, in a 1997 news release celebrating its opening.
The new 45-kilometre section of the Trans-Canada Highway in northern Nova Scotia replaced a high-fatality, two-lane road in the Wentworth Valley, enhancing safety and improving traffic flow between the Maritime provinces. In the decade before the highway opened, 50 traffic deaths were reported on the previous two-lane road.
Key infrastructure features of the project included five full interchanges, six major bridges, seven large concrete box culverts for stream crossings,16 km of guardrails to prevent head-on collisions and five underpasses for wildlife and local access.
The private financing was backed solely by toll revenues with no financial guarantees from the province. The use of private financing also protected the province's credit rating and freed up capital funds for other priorities, Beck noted in the news release.
The public sector retained ownership through the Highway 104 Western Alignment Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation. As of November 2021, the original P3 financial agreement concluded when the Province of Nova Scotia paid off the outstanding project bonds. The highway is now fully managed by the provincial Crown agency. The corporation will continue its mandate to manage toll revenue collection and to fund annual and long-term maintenance indefinitely.
The Nova Scotia government eliminated tolls for all Nova Scotia-registered vehicles in December 2021; tolls remain in effect solely for out-of-province vehicles to cover ongoing maintenance costs.
Partners:
Public: Government of Nova Scotia via Highway 104 Western Alignment Corporation
Private: Atlantic Highways Management Corporation (Nova Construction, Tidewater Construction, The BFC Civil Company of Canada (also referred to as The Foundation Co. of Canada)
Awards:
National Awards for Innovation & Excellence in P3s' winner in Project Finance, 1999
