For thousands of years people having been moving through British Columbia’s Kicking Horse Canyon, beginning with the First Nations’ people. Toward the end of the 19th century, the railway appeared in the Canyon followed shortly thereafter by the motor car. Since its completion in the 1960s, the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canyon has followed a tortuous, two-lane, 26 kilometre long alignment plagued by geotechnical challenges. Nine years ago, BCMoT embarked on engineering activity to kick-start $200 million worth of construction and, presently, is completing preliminary engineering work for a further $765 million worth of improvements. Improvements completed and presently underway include: • four-laning 8 kilometres of highway to 100 km/h criteria requiring the movement of over three million cubic metres of rock and earth material • construction of two crossings of the Kicking Horse River and the Canadian Pacific Railway: the first, the 250 metre long Yoho Bridges and the second, the 400 metre long Park Bridges reaching to heights of 90 metres over the River Current engineering activity is focused on the following scope: • four-laning 18 kilometres of highway to 80km/h and 100km/h criteria • a 3 kilometre long tunnel, the longest North American road tunnel if built today • several bridges ranging between 100 metres and 250 metres long Fisheries, wildlife, archaeological and other environmental assessments are also underway. With current construction scheduled for completion in 2007, BCMoT is confident that the momentum generated by recent improvements will see such activity continue, on what is proving to be one of North America’s most technically challenging transportation projects.
Thank you to our Premier Sponsors
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
