File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Trans Mountain Expansion

Trans Mountain expansion hits snag, must re-start drilling beneath Thompson River in Kamloops

Oct 29, 2020 | 10:09 AM

KAMLOOPS — Trans Mountain (TMX) has had a major setback in its expansion project through Kamloops.

The pipeline twinning includes a segment beneath the Thompson River that must be installed after Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is completed.

In a statement emailed to CFJC Today, Trans Mountain says installation of the pipe in the segment beneath the river encountered “technical challenges” that require the entire HDD process to be restarted.

TMX says the pipe will need to be removed and the path will need to be re-drilled.

That process will extend the timeline and noise impact for the Brocklehurst neighbourhood.

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But Kamloops Councillor Bill Sarai, who lives in Brocklehurst, says he is optimistic that the extension won’t have a significant impact on nearby residents.

“They’ve assured us that the timeline will be 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. – which is normal noise by-law. They’ve also assured us in this update that they’ve put up more sound [barrier] walls along that corridor to mitigate the noise,” said Sarai. “So those are two really positive steps that TMX is taking to mitigate the noise for the neighbourhood.”

Less than two weeks ago, noise from the HDD project kept Brocklehurst residents awake until the wee hours of the morning.

That aberration aside, Sarai says the project has caused minimal disruption.

“It’s been fine. We’ve had more complaints about the detours for the Tranquille Road improvement than we have for TMX,” said Sarai.

In its email, Trans Mountain thanks “everyone for their patience” as the project continues.