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Long-term Malahat flood repair in design stages, cost unknown: Transportation Ministry

Nov. 15 rainstorm caused a section of slope and retaining wall to collapse
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Flooding and bank instability has closed the Malahat past West Shore Parkway Nov. 15. (Courtesy Emcon Services Inc.)

A section of the Malahat damaged by B.C.’s November rainstorm is allowing traffic back through, but the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says long-term repairs remain in the design stages.

The Island’s main connector highway was pummelled with a record-breaking 88 millimetres of rain Nov. 15, filling some sections with water high enough to hit car bumpers and causing the slope and retaining wall to collapse between Finlayson Arm Road and Wellswood Road.

Crews worked around the clock to quickly reconstruct a retaining wall and build back damaged sections of the highway. A long-term fix is still in the works though, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said in a statement to Black Press Media.

The ministry said it doesn’t have a definitive schedule for those repairs and won’t have a cost estimate until the design phase is complete.

In the meantime, the ministry said crews continue to monitor the repaired section to ensure the safety of drivers and that the thoroughfare remains open. It will be reduced to single-lane alternating traffic on Dec. 2 from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. while crews add centre line delineators.

READ ALSO: More reliable Vancouver Island highway options highlighted in latest flooding: traffic expert

READ ALSO: ‘Not a federal concern’: a Malahat alternative would be up to B.C., not Ottawa says Horgan


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