It took 20 months to complete the first phase of the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt between 1984-85.
At the time, it was the largest highway project ever taken on in North America to be completed in such a timeframe. It was an ambitious project, to build a four-lane highway through some of the most treacherous terrain in the province.
Though the route had been travelled from the coast to the BC Interior since the 1800s, mostly by fur traders, it was the first actual ‘corridor’ to cross the Coast Mountains. The Kettle Valley Railway was built through the route in 1912, but was abandoned approximately 50 years later.
September of 1984 was when construction began on the 115-kilometre route connecting Hope and Merritt. There were five-million cubic metres of rock that was blasted from the mountain walls for the formidable project. 1,700 hectares of bush had to be stripped.
By the time summer of 1985 rolled around, there was approximately 1,000 pieces of heavy equipment at work. Overall, there were 38 bridges, 18 interchanges, and 19 underpasses that were constructed.
The amount of infrastructural pieces was monumental. 20,000 tonnes of steel was put into place, alongside 125,000 tonnes of concrete, and 160-km of guardrail.
The project employed 10,600 people directly, as well as approximately 16,000 more employees indirectly.
In terms of the environmental impact of the project, 18 river diversions were carried out, to minimize the effects on fish spawning.
And then, after nearly 4-million tonnes of gravel and 1-million tonnes of asphalt, the highway was completed and ready for travel in the spring of 1986.
Over the past 36 years, this stretch of highway has proven to be one of the most major veins in the province not only for commercial traffic, acting as a major stimulant to the British Columbian economy, but for travellers to go to work, or simply see family and friends in the Lower Mainland or the coast.
