Fredericton, NB: June 25, 2025– AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear company with offices around the world, is marking 20 years of its Brun-Way Highway mandate from the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to operate and maintain 275 km of four-lane highway spanning the province; critical for the movement of goods, residents, and visitors across New Brunswick and throughout Atlantic Canada.
Since 2005, AtkinsRéalis’ Operations & Maintenance group has been responsible for ensuring that the sections of the highway it manages—260 km segment of the Trans-Canada Highway as well as 15 km of Route 95—remain operational year-round. This includes managing snow clearing and salting operations, summer maintenance road work like repainting, vegetation management, inspections, and cleaning, as well as the repair of bridges, signs, guardrails, and wildlife crossings. The Company also handles incident response, road patrols, and traffic control.
“The roads covered by our Brun-Way Highway Operations are a crucial link for New Brunswick’s families and communities, an economic engine connecting the province with Maine, Quebec, and serve as a gateway to Canada’s east and west,” said Philippe Jean, Senior Vice-President, Operations, Canada, AtkinsRéalis. “The Operations & Maintenance work we’ve undertaken for two decades in New Brunswick exemplifies AtkinsRéalis’ mission to improve the way we’re all housed, connected, powered, and protected. With Canada’s renewed focus on nation-building critical infrastructure projects, the Trans-Canada Highway — one of Canada’s original nation-building projects — will continue to play a critical role in the fabric of New Brunswick, and in Atlantic Canada as a whole. We look forward to continuing being a part of the community here for years to come.”
Maintaining Critical Canadian Infrastructure
AtkinsRéalis was involved in earlier phases of the project as part of a consortium which financed, designed and built 90 km of new highway and upgraded 128 km of existing highway. These activities were completed on budget and on time. Now in an Operations & Maintenance phase, Brun-Way Highway Operations represents the largest highway segment singlehandedly overseen by AtkinsRéalis anywhere in the world.
The highway’s infrastructure is kept in a state of good repair through annual inspections, sound asset management practices, and scheduled maintenance activities. This has ensured the route remains one of Canada’s most modern & best-maintained highways. In 2024, segments under the control of Brun-Way Highway Operations performed better on overall asphalt ride quality than comparable highways throughout the country.
New Brunswick’s highways are some of Canada’s toughest for snow and ice control, due to heavy snow and freezing rain. For winter operations, AtkinsRéalis’ snow removal fleet, including salters and sand trucks, maintains a continuous presence on the roads during weather events.
Sustainability and harmonization with local ecosystems is a key priority for the highway’s management. Several wildlife crossings are maintained along the route, allowing animals to traverse the highway corridor with greatly reduced risk to themselves, and motorists. Debris, litter, and graffiti control in addition to roadway sweeping, is conducted regularly.
“The department’s partnership with AtkinsRéalis, through their Brun-Way program, has been instrumental in keeping 275 kilometres of our province’s highways well-maintained for two decades,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson. “Its year-round upkeep of these roadways continues to be reliable and efficient.”
Connecting People, Data, and Technology
AtkinsRéalis has delivered multiple innovations enhancing safety and efficiency. One of these is a safety swing arm attached to the side of its plow trucks. Designed to prevent vehicles driving into snowplows during dangerous and illegal overtakes, this low-cost, low-maintenance mechanical arm with high-intensity flashing lights has reduced collisions with snowplows since its introduction.
Another innovation is a hydraulic bridge-washing arm: affixed to the front of a maintenance truck, and operated remotely by a single technician. This reduces cost compared to traditional bridge washing methods, while increasing worker safety by avoiding exposing them to live traffic.
AtkinsRéalis has also deployed its propriety VUEWorks asset management platform to Brun-Way Highway Operations. The tool digitally tracks and displays all of the more than 125,000 assets along the highway: from signs to guardrails. It then simulates wear and tear on the assets over time, in response to real-world seasonal conditions. This means teams can accurately identify and predict which assets require proactive repair, and when. Not only does this method prevent failures by keeping assets in a higher level of state of good repair. It also focuses maintenance activities where they are required, without solely relying on time-intensive manual inspections by workers.
Brun-Way Highway Operations: By the Numbers
- 275: km of highways maintained (from the Quebec border to Longs Creek New Brunswick along Route 2, and from Woodstock to the Houlton Border Crossing into Maine along Route 95).
- 125,000+: total assets AtkinsRéalis is responsible for along the highway. This includes 35 major interchanges, 15 river crossings, and 163 other large structures of all types.
- 100+: full time & seasonal staff in New Brunswick employed by AtkinsRéalis for Brun-Way Highway Operations.
- 7,000+: average work orders completed annually on the various assets along the highway. This includes: 1,748 km of lines painted, 164 bridges washed, and 475 potholes filled.
- 24/7: hours of operation for Brun-Way Highway Operations’ Control Centre that fields calls and reports from road users, and dispatches response crews to deal with real time conditions on the road.
In total, our highway operations fleet is comprised of:
- 27 plow trucks
- 5 loaders
- 6 crash attenuators
- 25 patrol and light pickup trucks
- 2 bridge-washing trucks
About AtkinsRéalis
Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
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