This spring’s string of natural disasters has proven to be a costly adventure for the Northwest, with the receipts now in, the Ministry of Transportation is looking at 3 million dollar bill for repairs to the Nass highway and Highway 16 due to floods and landslides.
The most expensive of issues to deal with has been the Legate Creek slide which so far has cost between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars to make the area East of Terrace safe once again.
The Daily News provided a summary of the various highway troubles and the cost to fix them from this springs wild ride.
FLOODS, SLIDES DRIVE UP COST OF ROAD REPAIR
Damage to region’s roads likely to cost up to $3m to put right this summer
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Pages one and two
Mother Nature did close to $3 million in damage to Highway 16 and the Nisga’a Highway during natural disasters this spring.
Don Ramsey, area manager for the Ministry of Transportation, said the biggest single cost was as a result of the mudslide that closed Highway 16 on the east side of Terrace, near Legate Creek, in late May.
“It looks like it is coming in somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 million to make that area safe again. We are still working on it,” he said.
The devastating slide dramatically altered the landscape. Twenty-five thousand tones of debris covered 150 feet of road, 40 feet deep and claimed the lives of two Williams Lake residents, Bob and Charyl Flinton, whose car was crushed as they traveled along Highway 16.
In addition, Ramsay said it will cost an estimated $1.5 million to repair damage to the highways from the flooding that happened a week later.
Prince Rupert, Terrace and the Nisga’a communities of Greenville and Kincolith were cut off after record-level snow packs combined with a hot weekend to create the flood.
The melt-off pushed the Skeena and Nass Rivers over their banks and onto Highway 16 east and west of Terrace as well as on the Nisga’a Highway.
“It’s probably going to add another $1.5 million on top of that for 16 different areas that required and still require work,” said Ramsay.
The $3 million tab covers work in the area from Prince Rupert to 50 kilometres east of Terrace and north along the Nisga’a Highway.
There are also significant costs in the Bulkley Valley.
One of the large repair projects just getting underway is a $400,000 road repair on the newly constructed Nisga’a Highway.
This was part of the road that was designed to handle a flood in a high river year by allowing water to flow over the road, said Ramsay. The new highway was built this way because raising the road to redirect the river would have pushed the flood waters toward the footings of the major bridge just east of Greenville.
“The road did what it was supposed to do. What happened that wasn’t expected was, as the river flowed over it, it flowed with such force on the downstream side of it, the rock and gravel shoulder washed way and began to undermine the road,” he said.
This left a one-metre drop straight down from the edge of the pavement.
“The pavement was untouched, the road looks the same, but it’s not a safe situation so we are putting a shoulder back on there.”
And the Usk ferry is also still out of service. The ferry had a broken cable and Highways couldn’t replace it in high water. The water has only just now dropped enough to replace the cable.
“We are moving to replace that next week,” said Ramsay.
All these repairs are going on in addition to the regular summer paving program.
“A few things have been delayed a little bit but these are being undertaken as extra projects on top of regular maintenance program,” he said.
Funding for the repairs is expected to come from the federal government through the province’s Provincial Emergency Program.
The Skeena River flood was determined to be a ‘one-in-75-year’ event. The Nass River flood was a ‘one-in-30-year’ event. And the Bulkley Valley River flood was ‘100-year event’, according to the River Forecast Centre.
Ramsay said it would not be cost effective to try to protect the highway system from future floods with dikes.
The most expensive of issues to deal with has been the Legate Creek slide which so far has cost between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars to make the area East of Terrace safe once again.
The Daily News provided a summary of the various highway troubles and the cost to fix them from this springs wild ride.
FLOODS, SLIDES DRIVE UP COST OF ROAD REPAIR
Damage to region’s roads likely to cost up to $3m to put right this summer
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Pages one and two
Mother Nature did close to $3 million in damage to Highway 16 and the Nisga’a Highway during natural disasters this spring.
Don Ramsey, area manager for the Ministry of Transportation, said the biggest single cost was as a result of the mudslide that closed Highway 16 on the east side of Terrace, near Legate Creek, in late May.
“It looks like it is coming in somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 million to make that area safe again. We are still working on it,” he said.
The devastating slide dramatically altered the landscape. Twenty-five thousand tones of debris covered 150 feet of road, 40 feet deep and claimed the lives of two Williams Lake residents, Bob and Charyl Flinton, whose car was crushed as they traveled along Highway 16.
In addition, Ramsay said it will cost an estimated $1.5 million to repair damage to the highways from the flooding that happened a week later.
Prince Rupert, Terrace and the Nisga’a communities of Greenville and Kincolith were cut off after record-level snow packs combined with a hot weekend to create the flood.
The melt-off pushed the Skeena and Nass Rivers over their banks and onto Highway 16 east and west of Terrace as well as on the Nisga’a Highway.
“It’s probably going to add another $1.5 million on top of that for 16 different areas that required and still require work,” said Ramsay.
The $3 million tab covers work in the area from Prince Rupert to 50 kilometres east of Terrace and north along the Nisga’a Highway.
There are also significant costs in the Bulkley Valley.
One of the large repair projects just getting underway is a $400,000 road repair on the newly constructed Nisga’a Highway.
This was part of the road that was designed to handle a flood in a high river year by allowing water to flow over the road, said Ramsay. The new highway was built this way because raising the road to redirect the river would have pushed the flood waters toward the footings of the major bridge just east of Greenville.
“The road did what it was supposed to do. What happened that wasn’t expected was, as the river flowed over it, it flowed with such force on the downstream side of it, the rock and gravel shoulder washed way and began to undermine the road,” he said.
This left a one-metre drop straight down from the edge of the pavement.
“The pavement was untouched, the road looks the same, but it’s not a safe situation so we are putting a shoulder back on there.”
And the Usk ferry is also still out of service. The ferry had a broken cable and Highways couldn’t replace it in high water. The water has only just now dropped enough to replace the cable.
“We are moving to replace that next week,” said Ramsay.
All these repairs are going on in addition to the regular summer paving program.
“A few things have been delayed a little bit but these are being undertaken as extra projects on top of regular maintenance program,” he said.
Funding for the repairs is expected to come from the federal government through the province’s Provincial Emergency Program.
The Skeena River flood was determined to be a ‘one-in-75-year’ event. The Nass River flood was a ‘one-in-30-year’ event. And the Bulkley Valley River flood was ‘100-year event’, according to the River Forecast Centre.
Ramsay said it would not be cost effective to try to protect the highway system from future floods with dikes.
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