Coquihalla Highway reopening Dec. 20 thanks to 'remarkable engineering feats,' B.C. officials say
CTV
The storm-damaged Coquihalla Highway is now expected to reopen to commercial traffic on Monday, according to the B.C. government.
The storm-damaged Coquihalla Highway is now expected to reopen to commercial traffic on Monday, which would allow B.C. residents to drive between the Lower Mainland and Interior before Christmas.
Transportation Minister Rob Fleming credited the surprising new timeline to "one of the most remarkable engineering feats in recent memory," noting the Coquihalla collapsed at multiple points during the historic Nov. 15 storm that caused catastrophic flooding and landslides in the province's southwest.
"The response by our maintenance contractors, our subcontractors, our engineers to get the Coquihalla Highway reopened is as unprecedented as the storms that damaged it in the first place," Fleming said Wednesday.
The province originally said the highway would reopen in limited capacity at the end of January, then bumped that estimate up to early next month.
Fleming said traffic is now expected to begin moving again at some point on Dec. 20, but that the exact timing won't be determined for a few days.
Paula Cousins, regional executive director for the Ministry of Transportation, also provided additional details on the scale of the damage sustained along an approximately 130-kilometre stretch of the Coquihalla in November.
There were 14 sites where lanes were "completely wiped out or significantly undermined," Cousins said, and seven bridge structures that either collapsed or were compromised. There were also five separate slides impacting the highway.
