BC Highway Construction

[Daguy]

Originally Posted by Glacier

They could. In fact, the engineering report from 20 years ago said they should cut through the Turtle Valley (a wide and easy constructing valley), and avoid all the expensive blasting that is required to widen the road along Sorento, Chase, and the rest of the Shuswap Lake area.

The government, for some weird reason, does not want to bypass Sorrento and area. I can only assume that they don't want to bypass towns or something.

My understanding was that they did not want to damage the agricultural land in the Turtle Valley, and it would have still required maintenance of the existing route. However, would a bypass have offset the maintenance cost by increasing economic activity? It would reduce the drive time between Salmon Arm and Kamloops to well under an hour, which would attract shoppers and commuters from Salmon Arm to Kamloops. Also it would decrease shipping costs and drive times for trucks.

[craner]

^The bypass seems to make all kind of sense to me.

[Daguy]

^There's politics in there somewhere for sure, not wanting to bypass the towns for political reasons would make sense.

[CGY-MG]

According to Revelstoke news reports today (Nothing on the BC gov sites - as they're always the last to be updated lol), the small #1 twinning project by Donald (just west of Golden) has been funded and will proceed this year. Hopefully it will fix up the forced highway lane changing and merging mess they created by the weigh scales!

Unfortunately it'll still leave a long section just west of Golden that isn't twinned, and won't be twinned for at least a decade or more. It's not even on the long term radar even though it's a relatively straight and flat section that's always packed with convoys of vehicles stuck behind one clueless or frightened driver)

The expensive kicking horse 4 km section just east of Golden is also finally funded but will take a frustrating 2 years before they start and another 7 years at least to finish. So 9 years to twin 4 km! (more if you count all the years waiting around for funding). I'm glad it's happening - but personally I think it would be more effective to fix up more km of danger zones for the same money - but hey - when politicians are running for election they want sexy projects. Either way it'll be good to get this dangerous roadblock out of the way!

The news reports speculate that at ~$450 M it might be the most expensive highway in Canada. Perhaps by km, but no where near for example the price of the ring road around Calgary. (Add in Edmonton and my guess is those 2 new highways in AB could perhaps cost more than the entire twinning project in BC and will certainly finish many years before BC ever gets serious about twinning the highway). But that's just speculation on my part about the costs - especially when BC will be spreading the twinning cost over their 100-200 year construction timetable . (They speculate 60 years - but lets be realistic here - it'll take a lot longer than that)

If they ever get around to funding and doing the projects they announced but haven't actually proceeded with it looks like they'll be about 40% done the twinning project in about 10-20 years. And I don't think that counts the federal parks sections which have all but been ignored in BC for 60 years. So all told nobody reading this in 2017 will be around to see the #1 twinned between Kamloops and Alberta in their lifetime.

But on the bright side even baby steps by BC are better than nothing.

On the sad side there was another head on fatality on the #1 around Blind Bay - which of course we can assume wouldn't have been a fatality if the highway was twinned and properly separated. (Another flaw we see in BC is some of the twinned sections don't have any medians or barriers between lanes - except of course if you consider paint on pavement as a complete safety measure ) Oddly if you talk to a politician or BC transportation you'll hear that "safety is their #1 priority )

[Metro-One]

That was an odd post....

Thanks for the information though.

And yes, they do mean per km. Your comparison of the Calgary and Edmonton ring roads shows exactly why it is so hard to build highways in BC.

If BC were flat like the parries it would be much easier, cheeper, and quicker to twin the entire highway 1 project.

Sadly Canada does not have a national highway program, so BC has to spend its highway dollars on the Vancouver region (criss crossed with wide rivers and inlets), Vancouver Island (mountains, inlets), and of course the mainland (mountain ranges after mountain ranges, deep canyons, inlets, etc...). The massive changes in geology from spot to spot also does not help.

The only areas that the feds will pay for are the national parks, which they are finally starting to do in Yoho Park.

I agree that more focus should be made on the #1 in BC though, the speed is construction is too slow for my liking as well, and Salmon Arm should be completely by-passed.

[Dave2]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/b...rade-1.3988785

[jmt18325]

Well that's exciting. I'm happy this is finally starting.

[Metro-One]

Definetely good, but I wanted to re-fresh myself with the design, and I may be wrong, but looking at the alignment it looks like there will be no tunnels anymore, just bridges.

Maybe someone else can double check for me.

The lack of tunnels in Canada (North America in general) has always amazed me. So many tunnels in Europe and Asia. I was recently on a small island here in Japan (population only around 30 thousand) yet the island has about 6 or 7 road tunnels...

The geology in Japan may be easier to build tunnels through, but still...

[bulliver]

^ do you have a link to some detailed alignment maps? I can only find some 'project overview' maps with nothing for details.

http://www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca/khc_maps.htm

[Metro-One]

That is the one I was looking at, it directly labels the bridge sections, but fails to show any tunnels (it also labels all the retaining walls).

Also I can't find the 3D fly through video of the project, showing the tunnels, anywhere on the website (I only searched for about 5 minutes though)

Here, you can see a more detailed map:

http://www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca/khc_phase-4.htm

[jmt18325]

They didn't go with the long tunnel plan. This one was far less expensive. It looks like they've dropped the plan to eliminate the traffic lights in Golden for now.

[Metro-One]

Not talking about the 3km long tunnel concept, that was scraped years ago, the concept that I am talking about had 2 tunnels and a couple bridges. The longest tunnel section being around 450 meters long.

[speedog]

Don't care if this section has tunnels or not, it will just be good to have it completed and if no tunnels means a lower cost then that is a good thing too.

Maybe some of the savings could go to the Golden-Donald section, like others have said - it is a most frustrating section.

[craner]

Originally Posted by CGY-MG

According to Revelstoke news reports today (Nothing on the BC gov sites - as they're always the last to be updated lol), the small #1 twinning project by Donald (just west of Golden) has been funded and will proceed this year. Hopefully it will fix up the forced highway lane changing and merging mess they created by the weigh scales!

Unfortunately it'll still leave a long section just west of Golden that isn't twinned, and won't be twinned for at least a decade or more. It's not even on the long term radar even though it's a relatively straight and flat section that's always packed with convoys of vehicles stuck behind one clueless or frightened driver)

The expensive kicking horse 4 km section just east of Golden is also finally funded but will take a frustrating 2 years before they start and another 7 years at least to finish. So 9 years to twin 4 km! (more if you count all the years waiting around for funding). I'm glad it's happening - but personally I think it would be more effective to fix up more km of danger zones for the same money - but hey - when politicians are running for election they want sexy projects. Either way it'll be good to get this dangerous roadblock out of the way!

The news reports speculate that at ~$450 M it might be the most expensive highway in Canada. Perhaps by km, but no where near for example the price of the ring road around Calgary. (Add in Edmonton and my guess is those 2 new highways in AB could perhaps cost more than the entire twinning project in BC and will certainly finish many years before BC ever gets serious about twinning the highway). But that's just speculation on my part about the costs - especially when BC will be spreading the twinning cost over their 100-200 year construction timetable . (They speculate 60 years - but lets be realistic here - it'll take a lot longer than that)

If they ever get around to funding and doing the projects they announced but haven't actually proceeded with it looks like they'll be about 40% done the twinning project in about 10-20 years. And I don't think that counts the federal parks sections which have all but been ignored in BC for 60 years. So all told nobody reading this in 2017 will be around to see the #1 twinned between Kamloops and Alberta in their lifetime.

But on the bright side even baby steps by BC are better than nothing.

On the sad side there was another head on fatality on the #1 around Blind Bay - which of course we can assume wouldn't have been a fatality if the highway was twinned and properly separated. (Another flaw we see in BC is some of the twinned sections don't have any medians or barriers between lanes - except of course if you consider paint on pavement as a complete safety measure ) Oddly if you talk to a politician or BC transportation you'll hear that "safety is their #1 priority )

Yahoo!!
I'm very excited to hear the final section of Kicking Horse is finally going ahead. I will admit to being a little disappointed there are no tunnels and the traffic signal is remaining in Golden but those were just little "bonus" items for me anyway.
QUESTION: Will the section near the tall retaing wall that is currently 3 lanes become 4 lanes as part of this project ? I always found it strange that it wasn't built with 4 lanes in the first place.

What I find slightly more frustrating is the 2 year wait before construction starts. I would have thought with all the time waiting for funding that this project would be ready to go to tender as soon as funding was secured. And, as mentioned, lets hope BC doesn't go with no center barrier/median as they've been known to do.
All in all though, I'm very excited.

As for fixing up the Donald weigh scales section, that is good news too. Everytime I drive through there I think "why wasn't this done right when they built it?". Rediculous that you need to switch lanes.

And finally: I too would like to see the section west of Golden twinned. It seems like simple terrain to allow this (relatively speaking of course).

It's been a good few months with this announcement and the Yoho announcement earlier. I won't live long enough to see the TCH twinned from Kamloops to Alta border but I do have hope that some reading this will.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by craner

QUESTION: Will the section near the tall retaing wall that is currently 3 lanes become 4 lanes as part of this project ? I always found it strange that it wasn't built with 4 lanes in the first place.

Yes - it wasn't made 4 lanes because the alignment wasn't finalized.

[craner]

^Oh good - thanks for confirming.

[Metro-One]

I posted this in the Canadian section:

So to go with this conversation here are the planned upgrades for highway 1 near chase.

Looks like the preferred options are to be grade separated (one protected T will be constructed west of these projects).

Here is the preferred option for the western portion of Chase. Grade separated:

ChaseP1 by Ian, on Flickr

Here is the runner-up option, also grade separated:

Chase1B by Ian, on Flickr

And here is the at grade option:

Chase1C by Ian, on Flickr



Now on the eastern half of Chase, here is the preferred grade separated option:

Chase2A by Ian, on Flickr

And the at grade option:

Chase2B by Ian, on Flickr


There will be another access point east of Chase for a few properties. It says that it is technically "at grade" but a closer looks shows that there are no movements across traffic (no break in the median divider).

So it looks like the interchanges are the preferred options, but it never hurts to help by sending in your comments to the BC ministry of Transportation supporting the grade separated interchanges for these projects.

2022 is the expected completion dates. So Kamloops to Chase will be 4 lanes the entire way when these are complete with primarily interchanges (as stated before).

[millerman]

Option Chase P1 is the preferred option, and they are just completing the Traditional Use EA for this section (Traditional Use EA is an environmental assessment that has active participation of all local First Nations (Neskonlith, Adams Lake, Little Shuswap, Splatsin, Shuswap) in the study, so they have direct input into the EA and also the "value components"). Chase east is a different contract, and they will be completing the Traditional Use EA for that section later this year.
MoTI is going this route to use Trad EA's for Highway 1, because these First Nations have reserves and traditional territory along most of the corridor to Alberta. Makes it easier from a permitting standpoint to address any FN concerns while highway design and studies are being completed, as they can adjust if required before spending a lot of money on design and survey.

[Dwils01]

It looks like they are starting construction for the new on and off ramps at Hwy 91 and 72nd Ave. They have heavy equipment and storage containers on site and today I saw a small crane there from the Alex Fraser Bridge.

[craneSpotter]

TransCanada Highway expansion updates:

Bids were opened on Feb 24th for the Highway No. 1 TCH - 202 St. to 216 St. Highway widening and 216 St. Interchange project. Construction start should follow soon.







TCH No. 1 - on Vancouver Island - the Malahat Village Safety Improvements will be awarded soon. This includes:

-Expanding five kilometres of highway to four lanes with wider shoulders
-Installing three kilometres of median barrier
-Providing improved and safer highway access through a frontage road system and consolidated accesses

The median barrier and frontage road system is much needed in this area.

There will also be another widening project for the TCH. No. 1 - within greater Victoria between Leigh Road Interchange and the Westshore Parkway - coming out later this year. Yay!

The TCH No. 1 and McKenzie Interchange project in Greater Victoria is well underway - the tender for Phase two will be out this spring.