The four-lane Trans-Canada highway in New Brunswick was recently completed with the final 98 km of new highway opened to traffic in October 2008. The New Brunswick Department of Transportation (NBDOT), through the New Brunswick Highway Corporation (NBHC) completed this work using a public-private partnership agreement. The Brun-Way Group, a joint venture owned by SNC-Lavalin and Atcon Construction was selected to carry out this work and signed a $543.8 million agreement in February 2005 called the Trans Canada Highway Project. Prior to signing the agreement with Brun-Way, NBDOT initiated all Environmental Approvals required under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Provincial Clean Environment Act. It was determined that 58 water-course crossings would be required and studies determined that fish were present at 51 of these sites. It was estimated that approximately 27 970 m2 of fish habitat would be affected. The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and NBDOT agreed that compensation would be required for Harmful Alteration, Disruption or Destruction (HADD) of fish habitat due to the large area affected. DFO required compensation at a ratio of 3:1 therefore a total of 83 900 m2 of habitat compensation was required as part of the CEEA approval. NBDOT entered in to a memorandum of understanding with DFO to establish a HADD Bank. The HADD Bank was funded through the Design-Build Agreement with Brun-Way where they were required to make a one time payment of $1.8 million based on 83 900 m2 of compensation area. Brun-Way was fully responsible for all additional HADD compensation required if they exceeded the estimated 83 900 m2 . Using the HADD Banks funds, NBDOT was able to complete 9 projects. These projects were a combination of NBDOT infrastructure improvements and Non-Governmental Organization (local watershed and angling associations) improvements to local waterways. Brun-Way’s actual HADD compensation requirement was 156 200 m2 which surpassed the original estimate of 83 900 m2 . Brun-Way was therefore required to complete an additional 72 300 m2 of compensation beyond the work that DOT completed under the HADD Bank. BrunWay was able to meet their additional compensation requirements by completing 6 projects for which they received approximately 175 100 m2 of fish habitat compensation credits. The HADD compensation projects completed by NBDOT and Brun-Way exceeded the compensation requirements by 156 000 m2 more than required. NBDOT is now in discussions with DFO to establish a new HADD Bank for current and future work. A significant portion of surplus compensation from the Trans Canada Highway Project may form part of the new Bank to help offset HADD of fish habitat from future projects.
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