A tender has been issued to improve safety and capacity on the Trans-Canada Highway, by widening it to four lanes and upgrading the existing brake check.

The Illecillewaet four-laning project will widen two kilometres of Highway 1, approximately 42 kilometres east of Revelstoke. The brake-check area will be expanded to accommodate up to 15 trucks at once from the current five-truck capacity. Acceleration and deceleration lanes will be added to improve safety for trucks entering or leaving the brake check.

The contract for Illecillewaet will be awarded through an open bidding process in March 2019, with the start of construction expected this spring.

The total estimated project of $62.9 million is cost shared, with the Government of Canada contributing up to $15.5 million through the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund and the Province providing the remaining $47.4 million.

This is the first of several upgrade projects on the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and Alberta to be built using a Community Benefits Agreement. Community benefits will include job and training opportunities for people in the local area and will increase the participation of apprentices and workers traditionally under-represented in the construction trades, such as Indigenous peoples, women and people with disabilities.

Learn More:

For more information on the ministry’s Highway 1 four-laning program from Kamloops to the Alberta border, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/bchwy1-projects