The average age of Nova Scotia's highways and roads dropped noticeably from 18.5 years in 2001 to 16.3 years in 2007. This reduction in age was attributable to the discarding of older investments as total gross stock decreased 0.8% per year on average during the period.
As a result, this asset accounted for 62% of the total public infrastructure in Nova Scotia in 2007, down from 64% in 2001. In 2007, the average age of Nova Scotia's roads reached 58% of their estimated useful life, compared with 53% for all Canadian roads. As a result, this province had the fourth oldest road network among provinces, behind Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador.