With its corporate headquarters located in Merritt, Emcon Services Incorporated has been one of the leading road maintenance companies in B.C. for over two decades. Emcon prides itself on being a competitive business that provides an important service while utilizing local employees and suppliers.

“Our guys are there before the general public, to improve the road for the general public,” said Frank Rizzardo, president and general manager of Emcon.

Emcon has been taking care of B.C.’s highways since 1988 when the provincial government announced the outsourcing of its highway maintenance projects.

Emcon’s B.C. operations reach as far North as Dease Lake, down to Vancouver Island, and over to the east Kootenays, but they also work in other parts of Western Canada. Their graders, snowplows, trucks and excavators run year round on B.C.’s many highways and roads.

“We can’t stop deterioration (on roads),” said Rizzardo. “But we can maintain it at a constant gradient.”

“Our guys in the field basically do everything that is needed on the road year round.”

Some of the everyday responsibilities of highway maintenance personnel include filling potholes, cutting grass, plowing roads, and maintaining bridges, signs, and ditches.

Emcon employs around 250 people in positions that range from clerks to comptrollers, in the offices, and labourers to civil engineers, in the field.

“Our employees at Emcon in B.C. have a long history in B.C.,” said Rizzardo. “They tend to stay with us.”

Part of being a competitive business is keeping up with the technology available.

“Implementing technology or the equipment is what we’ve been doing for 22 years,” said Rizzardo.

One of Emcon’s most recent implements is the tow plow. Just approved, this machine, which moves like a semi-truck skidding sideways down the road, has a 26-foot blade that extends out on one side. This new tool will help Emcon’s employees to keep the roads drivable.