The portion of Mamquam Road that was damaged in the atmospheric river event continues to undergo repairs.
At an Oct. 10 committee of the whole meeting, 麻豆社国产council members unanimously voted to receive a report about the progress of the repairs for the section of Mamquam Road that begins past Paco Road near the golf course and extends nearly to the parking area for the Carpenter Son’s Bridge close to the old Quest, now future Capilano University campus.
Capital project manager for the municipality, Jesse Morwood, explained the damage to the road was caused by over 200 millimetres of rain flooding 麻豆社国产between Nov. 13 and Nov. 15, 2021. This was the same flooding that caused damage throughout the Lower Mainland.
“We saw significant cracking, and then there was also a slide on private property, which happened above the road,” said Morwood.
Since then, the District of 麻豆社国产has spent about $434,000 in repairs to the road, with about $172,000 covered by the province. Morwood said they appealed to B.C. in the last year to cover more costs.
Now, the owner of the private property near the road is removing slide hazards above the road, but Morwood did not have a definitive date for the road reopening.
“When the work is complete, we will reopen the road to select users, and this is again the same condition that it was prior to the event,” said Morwood.
The road users will include mainly industry traffic, pedestrians and cyclists. Morwood was unsure if dirt bikes or ATVs would have access. The road could also be used for emergency purposes.
Those who have lived in 麻豆社国产for some time may remember about five years ago, the road was completely open to the public, but the due to “safety concerns.”
It seems, at this time, it is not planned to open to public traffic for the foreseeable future, as Coun. Andrew Hamilton put forth an amendment seeking a preliminary cost estimate to reopen the road, but no other councillor seconded the motion.
Moreover, not all portions of the road have needed to be rebuilt during the last two years.
Director of engineering for the District, Sarah Baillie, said the plan for these portions of the road moving forward if damaged, would be a reactive reconstruction due to costs.
“We haven't taken a proactive approach yet of analyzing that whole road—that would be quite a big project to scope,” she said.
Morwood reassured council that the parts that were rebuilt were designed to withstand erosion or damage to the outside bank, which was the main cause of the ultimate damage in 2021.
View the report to council from council’s Oct. 10 agenda at .
