The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says it has now submitted the business case for the project to be eligible for Disaster Financial Assistance funding, and has since had “positive discussions with their federal counterparts.”
The Ministry has completed its geotechnical investigation to determine ground conditions and soil stability for a new route, and is now working to finish the design of the preferred alignment that was announced in May.
Functional design is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, at which time property acquisition plans will be developed.
Once that’s done, the next step will then be to begin the final detailed design.
While design work continues, the Ministry says it will complete archeological and environment impact assessments, as well as a hydrotechnical assessment.
The preferred route, out of 10, would take off at the south end of the West Fraser Road and would go east of the existing failed alignment on the plateau, and then up the ridge for about 3 kilometers, before traversing down the valley to a new bridge crossing Neighbour Creek.
It would total about 4.8 kilometers and would cost in the range of 71 million dollars.
Construction would take approximately two years.
Residents have been using a temporary route since April of 2018.