Update expected on British Columbia’s Coquihalla Highway reopening schedule | The Canadian News

Transportation Minister Rob Fleming will give an update Wednesday afternoon on the Coquihalla Highway.

The highway, British Columbia’s main link between the Lower Mainland and the Interior, has been closed between Merritt and Hope since the first atmospheric river hit the province in mid-November.

Repairs are underway, but the road suffered significant damage with stretches of roads and bridges washed away.

Approximately 20 sites are affected along the route and around 130 kilometers of the highway are in need of repairs.

“It really has been a spectacular series of weeks of recovery that have brought all parts of British Columbia together and activated the supply chains,” British Columbia Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said last week.

“It is the result of a collaboration with the federal government, the local government and the First Nations government.”

1:55Ongoing repairs on the Coquihalla highway, officials trust the January reopening schedule

Repair crews have been working 24 hours a day since the initial damage, according to the transport ministry.

There are more than 300 workers in the recovery project.

Fleming is confident that the route will be open to commercial traffic in early January. That will allow Highway 3 to be open to non-essential travel as well.

He is expected to update that schedule at Wednesday’s press conference.

This post will be updated after that announcement.

– with files from Darrian Matassa-Fung