(Flickr/B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure).
Trans Canada Reopens

Highway 1 reopens through the Fraser Canyon; drivers can expect lengthy delays

Jan 24, 2022 | 11:25 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Trans Canada Highway through the Fraser Canyon will reopen for all vehicle traffic as of 12:00 noon on Monday (Jan. 24).

B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced Monday morning that temporary repairs to Highway 1 were completed following mid-November’s flooding and the record snowfalls, avalanche risks, and cold temperatures over the past few weeks.

“The construction and engineering accomplishments to get people and goods moving again after the highway sustained such heavy damage are nothing short of remarkable,” Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming states.

Depending on the destination, drivers travelling Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon are told to plan for delays of up to two hours or more due to ongoing repairs, an at-grade train crossing and sections of single-lane alternating traffic.

The single-lane temporary bridge installed at Jackass Mountain and Nicomen River crossing is approximately 80 metres long and is in an area where a large section of two-lane road was destroyed. The province says because the bridge is in a known avalanche zone, drivers will have a pilot-car service for approximately four kilometres to guide them through this section.

Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon will be open to legal width and weight loading for truckers. Loads will be limited to 25 metres in length until the rehabilitation of the highway bridge at Nicomen River is complete.

Drivers are told to expect closures on short notice for avalanche control and cleanup due to the high avalanche risk in the Fraser Canyon. Drivers are asked to plan accordingly with warm clothes, food and water, and a full tank of gas.