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Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 54 No. 9 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
No plans to four-lane Bruhn Bridge
Engage: Input wanted for additional projects along highway. By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
A replacement for Bruhn Bridge is not among the province’s planned four-laning projects for sections of the Trans-Canada between Kamloops and the Alberta border. Not yet, anyway. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is hosting open houses in communities along the highway corridor to garner input on the province’s 10-year, $650 million plan to four lane sections of highway. Local projects planned so far include a 7.5 kilometre section of the highway in Salmon Arm, a 3.5-km section from Avoca Road to Crazy Creek, replacing the North Fork Bridge and upgrading the surrounding highway 26 kilometres east of Sicamous as well as the Malakwa Bridge and surrounding highway 20 kilometres east of Sicamous. Not included in the plan is a replacement for the Bruhn Bridge, which was a concern for some locals who attended Sicamous’ open house on Thursday, Feb. 21. “My main concern is the bridge, four laning that bridge,” said John Schlosar. “Hopefully, when they start thinking about that, I want to insure they have that in mind… It provides better access to the west side of the channel. That would be the best way to go instead of the talk in the past about coming down Main Street.” Ron Bernhard said the improvements planned to date are awesome, but he too stressed the need to improve the Bruhn. “I just can’t believe they would overlook the Bruhn Bridge… they would have to build a new bridge,” said Bernhard. “But if they can take the Hoffman Bluff area and straighten that out somewhat, then they should be able to straighten out the rocks at the top of the Bruhn Bridge and make it straighter and make it wider.” The bridge is also a concern for Mayor Darrell Trouton and Sicamous council. Trouton, who was at the hearing, said he and council met with ministry reps to express
Public interest: Ministry of Transportation staff answer questions about conceptual plans to four-lane sections of the TransCanada Highway on display during an open house held Thursday at the recreation centre. Photo by Lachlan Labere
Malakwa Bridge: Above is the province’s design concept to replace the truss bridge in Malakwa. Photo by Lachlan Labere their desire to see the Bruhn addressed, as well as the Trans-Canada/97A intersection. “That’s been a discussion for so long, it would be nice to see something addressed there if a plan comes forward,” said Trouton. The mayor said he and council also expressed concerns for the stretch of highway along the rock bluff west of Sicamous, and between Revelstoke and Golden, where rock slides and washouts can happen. “We feel that four-laning the highway through will open up for tourism and more
growth to our communities. Right now, if it’s easier and safer for people to go elsewhere, they’ll go elsewhere, and we feel it’s time to get into the new millennium and fix these roads up so that Sicamous has a chance to bloom in the future.” Rick Blixrud, MOTI’s assistant regional director for the Southern Interior region, said he and ministry staff are making note of all concerns and preferences expressed, noting the purpose of the open houses is to get direction on how to spend the $650 million. He said the projects currently in the
planning stage represent only $140 million of that. “Certainly there is room to address something like the Bruhn Bridge,” explained Blixrud. “What we’re looking for is feedback from people on whether or not they want to see improvements on the whole length of the corridor, or if they want us to concentrate on certain spots.” Blixrud says the province is hopeful the federal government will come onboard with additional funding, noting a 5.8-km project along Hoffman Bluff is costing about $10 million a kilometre. Blixrud said the Malakwa Bridge and North Fork bridge replacements are projects the ministry is concentrating on, as the current structures restrict movement of “extraordinary loads.” But he added there is still some work to be done before those projects proceed. “Actual tendering of these will depend on a number of factors,” said Blixrud. “On Malakawa, we still have to work with the Ministry of Environment, and we’ve initiated discussions with landowners… but it takes quite a while to get a project on the go.” The ministry will be accepting feedback until March 1, both at the open houses and on their website at http://engage.gov.bc.ca/ bchwy1/.