The federal and Nova Scotia governments will spend $50 million for major upgrades to 130 kilometres of highway in Nova Scotia, Conservative MPs announced Tuesday.

Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay announced two projects slated for portions of his federal riding of Central Nova next year.

Four of the five projects set to begin in 2015 — an election year — are in Conservative-held federal ridings.

"It just so happens that the Trans-Canada Highway runs through Central Nova. It's a major thoroughfare, as you know, from Cape Breton, that's part of the national highway system," said MacKay.

"But yeah, it's all about delivering for your constituents, yes."

Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay announced two projects slated for portions of his federal riding next year. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The 22 projects announced Tuesday involve repaving, new guardrails and rumble strips on nearly 130 kilometres of 100-series highways. Work will be carried out over the next four years.

The $50-million cost is being shared between Ottawa and Nova Scotia. The federal government's share is up to $20 million from the New Building Canada Plan.

Geoff MacLellan, the provincial Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, said the cash from the federal government will allow the province to shift money from repaving major highways to other high-priority projects. He is happy to be receiving the money.

1 Cape Breton project

"This impacts a large piece of Nova Scotia. It's in many counties and many districts in the province, so it's good news," he said.

"It's regular maintenance, so it keeps people safe and they're good projects to support and it means we can advance them and keep them there on our list, so it's a good thing for us."​

In addition to MacKay, Conservative MPs Scott Armstrong and Gerald Keddy held separate news events Tuesday to announce projects. The House of Commons is on a break week.

The Conservatives said Nova Scotia will receive $426 million from the New Building Canada Plan over the next decade. Ten per cent of the money dedicated to cost-shared programs with the province will be carved out for small communities.

"For our federal riding here in northern Nova Scotia, we are made up of small communities that can access this fund," said Armstrong.

Of the 22 projects, one of them is in Cape Breton — a seven-kilometre stretch of highway in Richmond County.

Although federal Convervative MPs were front and centre at the announcement, the province said it picked the highway projects.

"The managers here decide which projects go in priority, they submit them into our head office and we evaluate them all that way. So they're not just randomly picked. There's actually an engineering process that goes in place to make sure we do the worst ones first," said Peter Hackett, Nova Scotia's executive director of highway engineering and construction for the Department of Transportation.

"They're not selected by just, someone's in this riding, or someone's in that riding."