KVR Trail near Coquihalla closed permanently due to $60M repair cost

The Kettle Valley Rail Trail between the Coquihalla Highway and Princeton is going to be decommissioned since fixing it would be expensive.

The 67 kilometre stretch was damaged by heavy rain and flooding in November 2021 and repairing it would cost $60 million, according to a press release from the Ministry of Environment.

The trail had compromised trestles, damaged retaining walls and entire sections of the trial bed had been washed away. In some places the course of the river changed so it now flows where the trail used to be.

Decommissioning the Princeton stretch of the trail is going to take around two to three years and it’s going to start in the spring. The ministry said decommissioning the damaged section in Princeton is going to cost $20 million but the money is coming from the federal government through the Disaster Financial Assistance program.

The ministry said this section of the trail didn’t see much use compared to other parts of the KVR Trail, but it’s part of the Trans-Canada Trail which is the world’s longest multi-use trail system.

There’s an alternative route on a local road so people can bypass the damaged, and soon to be decommissioned, section of the trail.

This isn’t the only section of the KVR Trail to see some issues recently.

The Penticton Indian Band had to close the entire section between Summerland south to Banbury Green in Kaleden back in November.

Since 2017 the provincial government has invested roughly $27 million into maintaining rail trails in BC Parks.