Drivers beware! Final upgrades coming to Highway 1 near Golden, B.C.
Posted Sep 6, 2019 7:53 am.
Last Updated Sep 6, 2019 7:54 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
GOLDEN (660 NEWS) – The final and most difficult phase of the Kicking Horse project near Golden has been announced.
B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena said 4.8 kilometres of Highway 1 east of Golden will be doubled over four seasons, starting next year.
The project will also include the installation of a median barrier and avalanche hazard protections.
The upgrades will mean several weeks of closures and detours. Transportation officials say the Highway will be shut down for no more than 15 weeks each year.
One of the detours will see drivers move to Highway 93 and then to Highway 95, a stretch of about 103 kilometres.
Highway 3 through the Crowsnest Pass is also expecting increased traffic during the upgrades as it saw in the previous phases of the project.
The final phase of the project is expected to cost $600 million with the federal government contributing one-third of that money. The cost was originally budgeted at $450 million in 2016.
Much of the increase is due to a labour agreement which required the hiring of underrepresented workers including women and Indigenous peoples.
Travena says about 200 people will be hired, with an emphasis on local workers but a major shortage in skilled labour has been a challenge.
Twenty-one kilometres of narrow, winding, two-lane highway has already been transformed into a four-lane, 100-kilometre-an-hour highway.
With files from The Canadian Press
