A long rivalry between two of Newfoundland and Labrador’s biggest road construction companies came to a head this week, resulting in smashed windows and a police investigation.

Barriers near Municipal Construction and Farrell’s Excavating — both located just off the Trans-Canada Highway near the developing Galway subdivision in St. John’s — have been torn down in a wild scene that played out on Thursday.

Bill Farrell has owned and operated Farrell’s Excavating since 1990. He says things have turned from bad to worse between his company and the competition at the site of a construction job near Exit 41.

Farrell won the contract late last year for the job, which will see a new interchange to open up better access to Galway. The job is essentially on the doorstep of his company, and that of his competition, Municipal Construction, owned by Carl Healey. Farrell’s contract calls for a temporary access road so Healey’s trucks don’t lose access to the highway.

On Thursday, Farrell’s removed traffic barriers from an existing Municipal gate and installed a new gate closer to the company’s head office.

“I had a job to move the gates here yesterday to protect somebody else’s property and it’s in my contract to do it,” Farrell told CBC News on Friday.

But the placement apparently didn’t sit well with Healey.

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