2021 atmospheric river highway repairs to top $1 billion

The province expects the cost to rebuild the Southern Interior highways damaged by last year’s atmospheric river to be around the 10-figure mark.

The major transportation corridors of Highway 1, Highway 5 and Highway 8 were all severely damaged by a relentless volume of precipitation. Thirty sites were damaged along the Coquihalla Highway, where the amount of water raging down the Coldwater River caused seven bridge spans to either collapse or sustain heavy damage. There were multiple slides throughout the Southern Interior. 

Temporary repairs relating to the weather event cost around $240 million, and all of which have been completed throughout the province, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said in an email.

Despite the severity of damage to Highway 5, it was able to reopen 35 days after the extreme weather as a result of the temporary repairs. New bridges have not been installed yet, so the four-lane highway turns into two-lanes in sections where the road is still bottlenecked.

READ MORE: iN VIDEO: Drone footage showcases scale of work done to reopen Coquihalla

No firm timeline was shared, however work to restore the highway to its regular four-lane capacity “is currently moving ahead,” the email says.

The area near the Othello tunnels that was washed out has been permanently repaired, the email says. Impacted areas are being permanently repaired to withstand the extreme weather events of the future.

Although the total cost is estimated around the $1 billion mark, the spokesperson said that number will be refined as the scope of each project is also refined.

READ MORE: Trans-Canada reopens in Fraser Canyon after catastrophic flooding

Diana King is a driver who only moved to British Columbia last year and had no experience driving on the Coquihalla before the atmospheric river. She travelled on it earlier this week, and from her point of view, it’s functioning just fine.

“There's lots of other construction going on,” she said. “All I can say is that the highway seems to be in great shape – from an outsider’s perspective it's hard to tell where the damage was.”

For any British Columbians embarking on a road trip, it's always a good idea to check Drive B.C. before travelling. 

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