BC plans to rebuild the Coquihalla stronger than before floods

The provincial government took reporters Friday on a tour of the progress they've made rebuilding the badly-damaged Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope. More than 20 sites along a 130 kilometre stretch of Highway 5 were damaged by heavy rains and flooding last month.

“Our crews and contractors have had over 100 pieces of equipment along the corridor, 200 people working,” says Paula Cousins, regional director with the Ministry of Transportation. "This is a massive job and that's why our crews have been full-out working around the clock to rebuild this corridor."

The media tour included stops at four heavily damaged locations along the Coquihalla

Before-and-after photos provided by the Ministry of Transportation show just how much progress has been made on repairs.

The first stop was Murray Flats, west of Merritt, where the southbound lanes were washed away for 500 metres. That stretch is now passable.

Bottletop Bridge was the second stop and perhaps the most dramatic, both spans of the southbound and northbound bridges were impacted by flooding from the Coldwater River. But now, the southbound section of the bridge has been repaired and is also passable.

"The southbound lanes are the priority for re-establishing access during the response phase and the reestablishment of the northbound lanes will be part of the recovery project that happens moving forward," says Dave Duncan general manager of Yellowhead Road and Bridge.

Crews have been working hard to gain access to the worksites from either end of the corridor. Cousins says that was achieved last week and allowed Transportation Minister Rob Fleming to announce Thursday that the Coquihalla should be open for essential travel in early January.

"The priority right now is just to get the economy and the trucks moving again," said Cousins.

Work has already begun on developing engineering designs that will be permanent and what Cousins calls "built back better." The final plans will also include climate adaptation standards.

"It's been really challenging as you can see the weather conditions aren't particularly favourable for construction," Duncan says.

Crews have had to remove damaged bridge spans, blast in some areas and haul aggregate from nearby sources.

The progress is astounding, but so is the devastation. Trees are still down on hydro lines and vehicles are still visible in the middle of the Coldwater River.