Four years after atmospheric river, full length of Highway 8 opens to 2-lane traffic

For the first time since it was devastated by the atmospheric river of 2021, Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge is fully open to two lanes of traffic.

The province’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit announced the milestone in a news release issued Wednesday (Dec. 17).

The record-setting November 2021 rains swamped the Nicola River, which runs along the full length of Highway 8. The province says the swollen river washed out the route in more than two-dozen locations.

It took nearly a year for the route to partially reopen.

“Repair work along the corridor included reinstating and retrofitting three compromised bridges, constructing two new climate-resilient bridges and restoring 13 kilometres of laneway lost to flooding,” notes the ministry.

Twenty-three of the 25 damaged sites have now been fully repaired and upgraded, with remaining work expected to be finished by September 2026.

The remaining work includes “additional environmental restoration, resurfacing of remaining sections of roadway, removal of two temporary bridges and rip-rap placement at sites 9 and 10 to protect the new structures.”