Coquihalla Highway could reopen early January, ahead of previous schedule

After a lengthy closure due to B.C.’s historic floods, the Coquihalla Highway is now expected to reopen weeks earlier than previously thought.

“Based on the exceptional progress to date and favourable weather … We are confident that it could instead reopen in early January,” Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Thursday, adding the route will initially only be open to commercial traffic.

The province previously expected the route would remain fully closed until the end of January.

Meantime, Highway 3 remains restricted to essential travel only, under a provincial order.

“The plan going forward is to reopen Highway 5 as an essential corridor for commercial trucks and open [Highway] 3 for general travel. [We] would probably have Highway 3 continue to have additional patrols, signage, and significant travel advisories,” Fleming explained.

He says once the Coquihalla is reopened they can start to look at reopening Hwy 3 and Hwy 99 to non-essential travel.

— Robyn Crawford (@robyncrawford_) December 9, 2021

Fleming says crews have made “tremendous progress” on Highway 5.

“This is remarkable, given the scale of damage on the Coquihalla. It’s a testament to the skill and dedication of everybody who is part of this tremendous effort.”

It’s unclear how many lanes will be available when the route reopens.

“We’ll have more to say about specifically what the traffic management will look like and how many lanes in the days ahead,” Fleming said.

Asked what condition Highway 5 will be when it reopens, Fleming described it as “usable.”

“[These are] temporary repairs to get it to usable condition and won’t be the same Coquihalla,” he said. “The ‘build back better’ discussion that we’re having with the federal government and other partners, we don’t have a timeline for that yet but we have taken some steps very quickly to test the market to see what kind of interest there is in rebuilding a climate-resilient Coquihalla, to restore it permanently.”

On the Coquihalla reopening in mid-January:
-Fleming says there has been remarkable process in reopening. Does not have an update on if it will be single lanes or what it will look like when it reopens. Says more info coming in the days ahead.

— Robyn Crawford (@robyncrawford_) December 9, 2021

It’s unclear how much it will cost to repair all of the highways damaged by catastrophic flooding last month.

“Engineering assessments and different options that we may pursue have not been fully costed,” Fleming admitted. “Really, what we’re focusing on is what is possible. What is the best course forward?”

Photos shared by the province show sections of highway completely washed away.

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When asked if he can definitively say the Coquihalla will be open to non-essential travel by the summer, Fleming would not commit to that.

“We’re going to have to see what supply chains look like,” he said.

Travel restrictions are in place for a reason, minister emphasizes

Fleming is urging people to respect the provincial travel restrictions in place for Highways 3 and 99, which only allow travel for essential purposes.

“Until the Coquihalla can reopen to commercial traffic with temporary repairs, we must leave Highway 3 available primarily for semi trailer trucks moving essential goods. With upwards of about 3,000 trucks a day now on that highway with its steep grades and tight curves, it would be dangerous to mix leisure leisure passenger traffic in with convoys of trucks,” Fleming said.

Related articles:

• B.C. trucking industry, province work to reduce growing number of crashes on Highway 3

• ‘Herculean effort’ underway to get B.C.’s supply chain back on track

• B.C.’s Highway 3 unrecognizable amid storm damage, checkpoints, crashes

Fleming says crews have been patrolling Highway 3 and maintenance workers have been de-icing and salting the route. He’s reminding everyone to slow down in slippery conditions.

“And I can’t stress enough … lowering your speed and driving to conditions save lives. We’ve had fatalities on Highway 3, for example,” he said.

“We want to have a zero-fatality system going forward on all our highways, but the ones that are damaged … drivers need to be extra mindful to the condition of the highways and the weather and the storm … These are all factors that need to be considered for our truck drivers and for others participating in essential travel.”

Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon is completely closed and expected to remain so until mid-January.

With files from Sonia Aslam and Robyn Crawford