Airlift will help reopen Hardy Falls Regional Park within weeks

KELOWNA – Wildcat Helicopters dropped into Peachland today to begin the work to reopen the walkway that was wiped out by flooding two years ago.

Two of the eight bridges in Hardy Falls Regional Park were severely damaged by flood waters in the spring of 2017 and the park has been closed since then.

The pieces to two prefabricated bridges were airlifted in eight trips by helicopter today, April 11, from a vacant lot next to Highway 97 across from Antlers Beach. The wooden bridges will have a higher clearance above Deep Creek to protect them from future flooding.

The drops included decking and bridge structures that will be assembled by ground crews over the next few weeks, with the hopes of reopening the park in early May, Central Okanagan Regional District communications officer Bruce Smith said.

The bridges were designed by New Brunswick based Advanced Research and Development Canada, built in its Oregon plant, disassembled and shipped to Peachland.

The work was funded by a $48,400 grant from the provincial disaster assistance program.

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