Budget amendment needed for KVR trail retaining wall replacement

PENTICTON – Penticton city council has approved spending $300,000 to make repairs to a retaining wall on the Kettle Valley Rail trail that is beginning to lean.

City engineer Ian Chapman says movement in the portion of the KVR trail retaining wall just north of Carder Road was first noticed in spring of 2016, but following this year’s high groundwater and spring snow melt, the movement became even more noticeable.

A structural engineer hired to assess the problem has determined the wall will need to be replaced because the restraining and drainage systems behind the wall don’t appear to be functioning correctly.

The wall will be replaced with a gravity-based retaining system that gets its structural strength from its own weight rather than relying on reinforcement behind the wall.

The City has put the job out to tender and hope to have a successful bidder selected by the end of this week with the project completed by early July.

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