B.C. moving forward to permanent Coquihalla repairs; construction to begin in summer 2022

KAMLOOPS — B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is moving forward on permanent repairs to the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt.

In a news release Thursday (March 24) morning, the ministry says a contract for Highway 5’s repairs will be awarded in late April or early May 2022, and construction is expected to begin in summer and be completed by the end of the year. The ministry will invite select contractors take part in a selection process to design and construct permanent repairs at:

• Bottletop Bridges, 50 kilometres south of Merritt
• Juliet Bridges, three kilometres south of Bottletop
• Jessica Bridges, 48 kilometres south of Juliet

The province says the repairs will return the Coquihalla Highway in the affected areas to full four-lane capacity. It adds the sites will be repaired to withstand future extreme weather events after November’s atmospheric river event closed the stretch of Highway 5 to regular traffic for two months.

“Our crews worked hard to get the Coquihalla reopened after the severe flooding event and were able to do so in short order about a month after the storm,” Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure says. “The pace of reconstruction to get the Coquihalla back open to traffic was impressive and beyond anything we could have imagined. We will be making our infrastructure more resilient to climate change and future weather events, so it remains reliable, safe and efficient for people and as our key goods movement corridor for now and for years to come.”

Additionally, the ministry will also proceed with repairing the Othella washout area 10 kilometres east of Hope in the coming months. A tender package will be prepared and made available for contractors.

The province says more information on permanent repairs to Highway 1 though the Fraser Canyon and Highway 8 in the Nicola Valley will be made in the coming weeks.