Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park and the Othello Tunnels will reopen to the public later than expected this summer because of unexpected rock instability in the area.
The much-loved nature spot was supposed to reopen to the public on August 8, but now BC’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy says it will welcome guests the week of August 19.
The area was damaged during the 2021 atmospheric river floods, which harmed all five of the historic rail tunnels and two dozen other sites in the park.
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“Contractors identified unforeseen damage to rock anchors,” the Ministry told Daily Hive Thursday.” These anchors need to be reinstalled before finishing the rock fall protection, which has resulted in a need to push back reopening times.”
The park is scheduled to reopen in phases, with the first two tunnels becoming accessible to the public this summer and the remainder reopening in 2025.
In June, the BC government pegged the cost of restoration work at $4.5 million, though most of the money comes from the federal government’s disaster assistance program. BC Parks is putting in about $100,000 of provincial money for additional improvements.
“This is an incredibly beautiful place that people from British Columbia and elsewhere have been prevented from visiting for [three years]… So I’m really excited,” George Heyman, BC’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, said during a site visit in June.
The Othello Tunnels inside Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park are about a two-hour drive east of Vancouver. They used to house tracks of the historic Kettle Valley Railway, which opened in 1916. The engineer behind the project was a fan of Shakespeare, which is why they’re named after the play.