After five years of hard work from a group of passionate Penticton and Naramata residents, the historic Adra Tunnel on the Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) Trail above Naramata has officially reopened to the public.

Woodwackers 2.0 Project Manager Terry Field said the whole group is very excited and proud to have achieved the opening.

"It took a lot longer than we thought, and everyone continued to rally, and we couldn't have done it with the hard work and passion that Penticton and Naramata and the Okanagan have," he said. " It was a huge part of BC's history."

"It's massive. It's an amazing engineering feat. And everyone's been blown away. So it's been really exciting."

The 487-metre, horseshoe-curved tunnel was originally excavated in 1913 as part of the development of the Kettle Valley Railway. Rail operations ceased in the 1970s, and the provincial government purchased the rail bed in 1990.

The Adra Tunnel was closed entirely in the early 1990s due to unstable conditions.

Decades ago, the first Woodwackers group, who were invested in preserving and protecting the trail network, had its vision set on reopening the tunnel.

After fires were deliberately set in the tunnel in 2010 and 2012, destroying all remaining timber supports and further deteriorating stability, there was concern that the tunnel would never reopen.

In June of 2023, the Woodwackers 2.0 announced that they were working on the century-old tunnel on the KVR trail above Naramata.

Built up of an informal group of locals, the individuals donated their time, expertise and equipment to get the tunnel open again. A whole host of community members and local businesses joined in, too.

Working in partnership with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the province, the group started to work clearing out debris after they were given the all-clear to move ahead.

From there, the condition of the rock was analyzed, and the team came up with a plan of where rock support needed to go to stabilize the roof and the walls of that tunnel.

Originally, the group was hoping to be able to open by the end of summer or early fall of 2023, but securing the tunnel has brought on its challenges, and the winter weather meant construction delays.

In January of 2024, the RDOS board approved a change order to the agreement between the regional district and T&A Rockworks Inc. for the rehabilitation of the Adra Tunnel for $150,000.

Once all rock stabilization work was complete, crews completed resurfacing the tunnel floor with drainage ditches and LED lighting was been installed. Donors and volunteers got a sneak peek at the progress.

The group has raised more than $1,000,000 for the rebuild.

They then moved the goal date for opening to the spring of 2024, but were waiting for provincial approval.

In the meantime, crews installed some timber arches inside the tunnel, scaled both portals just to create a safer access for the public and a sound effect to make it feel like a train is passing through.

"We didn't think it was going to take five years. There were a lot of different hoops to jump through. It being an asset owned by the province, we luckily had the Regional District partner with us to make it happen," Field said. "We always say, we could have built three tunnels by now, but there's a lot of different layers to it."

"The processes in place to get through the permitting process for a project like this take a lot of time, and it definitely affected the cost and the timeline."

The Regional District and Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association applied for another grant, securing $250,000 to put towards outdoor amenities, including landscaping, parking lots, picnic areas, bathrooms and further signage, which will be done in the fall.

"We really want to make it a destination location where people can hang out, take their families, spend the day up there, and be able to return."

The hope is to see the tunnel bring in tourism for the area as well.

"It's going to draw a lot of visitors to come and hike and bike and explore in our backyard, and they're going to stay in our hotels and eat at our restaurants, shop at our stores, visit our wineries, and it's just going to give another reason for people to come back to the Okanagan," Field said.

Adra Tunnel has two different access points currently:

• Glenfir parking lot, which is an eight km drive, bike ride or walk along the KVR Trail to the tunnel
  • The KVR Trail is intended for recreational use (walking, cycling, horseback riding, and licensed off-road vehicles)
• Naramata Creek Forest Service Road (FSR) parking area
  • FSR, which is an unmaintained resource road, is narrow and steep with rough conditions and loose rock is 2.5 km north of the Smethurst parking area
  • Ensure vehicles are suited for off-road conditions: High clearance, Proper tires
  • Approximately a 600-metre hike or bike ride from the parking area to the lower tunnel
  • This site supports motorized recreation (motorcycles and off-road vehicles)

Visitors are asked to stay on the marked trail to the tunnel and respect all other trail users.

To learn more about Adra Tunnel, head to rdosregionalconnections.ca/adra-tunnel.

Photo: Casey Richardson

One entrance to the Adra Tunnel along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail

Photo: RDOS

Adra Tunnel is now open for public use.