Kicking Horse Pass Construction Update
TCH #1 reopening at Kicking Horse Canyon- Nov 2023
Kicking Horse Canyon to be fully open December 2023
Traffic will begin to flow onto the fully-widened highway and bridges by the start of December, said the Ministry of Transportation in an update October 26.
Over the past three years, about five kilometres of narrow and curvey two-lane highway has been transformed into four divided lanes to make for a safer, smoother trip through the Kicking Horse Pass. This was accomplished in very challenging geology by building using a combination of building bridges to straighten curves, blasting away rock to widen flat sections and/or to cut through some jutting rocks to straighten the highway route, adding viaducts (sections of roadway supported by columns) to create a wider highway on steep-sloped hillsides, and adding walls above and below the highway for additional stability. Some bridge pylons are over 100 metres high. This challenging 4 kilometre section of the Trans-Canada Highway cost about $600 million dollars ($215 million from the Government of Canada, and the balance funded by British Columbia).
Kicking Horse Pass Schedule
Travellers began using the upgraded eastbound lanes last fall (2022), and the remaining eastbound lanes on the Bighorn Viaduct (see map below) were finished and construction turned to the westbound lanes, walls and rockfall protections.
The Trans-Canada was closed from late September till early October for major concrete pours along the Lynx, Elk and Caribou viaducts (see map below). That would be the last extended closure needed, though there will be some delays, including nighttime closures, until the end of November.
Limited work is expected through the winter before final paving work in spring of 2024.
Fly-Over Video in Fall of 2023
Detailed Map of Kicking Horse Canyon Phase 4
Updated Kicking Horse Canyon Construction Plan – Phase 4
