Don't want to burst your bubble there, but what the hell happened? Highways being wiped out in flooding you can expect in places like China, but it's not reassuring to see that happen here....
@@johannaholmgren8088 it's called erosion. Over time little dirt & rock tumble down the embankment. With each passing season, then one day you get a wallop of rain or extra snow & poof it all falls down. The thing is a few times a year there should be students & teachers or they could use retired engineers ect to go out and visually inspect roads & bridges. Gives knowledge to students & retirees that still want to be useful at passing that knowledge on. Making it a win win situation. Students can't pass coarse if they don't get 1st hand knowledge, would help make roads & bridges safer.
Exactly my thoughts what the hell happened is right. For one they blasted out all the rock and build it on sandy gravel. Now they're putting big rock into fixing it something that should have been done since the start not get rid of it
I cycled across Canada and got my bike up to 100kph coming down it. One of my proudest moments was when I ascended it the same time a guy in a jeep did, as he passed me he gave me a fist pump in the air :) nailed it
I worked on a section of the highway about 36km out of hope, helped install two of the armadillos that are mentioned. First real job out of high school with Cantex Construction. My father was a surveyor with the department of highways who also worked on this highway. When it was done we moved from Hope to Kamloops where he worked on the next phase.
Back in my "hippie" life of the 70's I lived in a log cabin along the old Kettle railbed at Jessica, a 9 mile walk along the logging road from Hope. All the abandoned rail stops were named after Shakespeare's plays. Living with old Clayton Morris, bless his soul, who was a cowboy from the 1930's. To me he recounted his life about hopping freight cars and living in hobo jungles from the 1920's. His was a life of hardship and loneliness but his spiritual depth taught me so much about life I hold to this day. We ate stinging nettles and wild watercress to augment a meager diet. Now that is buried under a superhighway. All life is impermanent and changes constantly. We are dust in the wind. Om Mani Padme Hum.
This same project today would take 20 years instead of 20 months. If it could get approved at all that is. After they consulted with every “group” and formed a committee about every decision. We used to be able to get shit done!
What is glossed over here is that it was that very rail corridor and all of the surveying that had been done before that made it happen so quickly. There weren't any big "surprises" during construction. Lessons that could have been learned with the site C project (a multitude of reports detailing the insecure footings of the area; that were glossed over because of good old fashioned hubris). If you rely on good data, you can avoid a lot of problems. That is the lesson of this.
East end of Edmonton took 25+ to finally build the interchange for the Anthony Henday. The earth ramp was in place in the early 1990s and wasn’t finished until ~2018.
Its soo great highway and made journey soo easy . i am truck driver and its the best highway for driving. soo beautifull view and good road. Thanks all the great workers and great minds those who built this awesome highway.❤️❤️
Left out the best part...installing the concrete pylons on a 45-50 degree slope using a chopper. They had to cut back the snow so the rotor blades could just fit on the landing spot. The pylons support a cable which delivers charges to clear snow before it can avalanche onto the highway. Amazing video I was given to watch as we were supporting the highway build with special forecasts. we meaning the Canadian weather service!
At the same time further east in BC, CP Rail was building the Rogers Pass project through the Selkirk Mountains, yet another large undertaking Canada can be proud of!
I worked with my father and brother to put up the lights at many of the intersections on the highway. The Coquihalla is also featured in Discovery Channel's 'Highway Thru Hell'. We still drive the highway today!! Makes the trip from Vancouver to Kamloops 3hr 20mins from the old 5hrs+ via the Canyon.
That is incredible and just goes to show what can be achieved when people have a goal , put their minds and hearts into it and work together. I love the verse in proverbs..Where there is no vision , the people perish. Without vision there is no purpose or raison d'être ( reason for being) . People that built that must be proud of their work for sure.
This is so impressive. I used to fish the dry fly in the Coquihalla river. I watched as they slowly built the the highway more and more each trip.And then just before Expo 86 they rammed the road thru. I returned to a favorite spot and found the whole area flattened,huge earth moving machines,a backhoe picking away in the middle of the river,which ran thick with mud. A superintendant waving his arms directing his workers. This project was going to show how industry and the fish in the river were compatible and that both, would thrive. And how did the project work out,you might ask,for the beautiful synchronicity of man's loving relationship with nature and it's priceless steelhead? Why, the Coquihalla River Steelhead are extinct of course. They murdered the river and it's fish.A perfect example of mankind's triumph over the natural world.
My father used to fly fish the Coq before the 1950s pipeline went through and he said the same thing about that construction, with the sediment killing off the salmon and steelhead fishery in the Coquihalla in the 1950s. He'd take me to the Schoolhouse Pool in the 1960s and try for a fish, but not much going on. Then in the 1960s clear cut logging on the mountains caused a few huge floods to wipe out the Silver Creek Steelhead and Pink runs too. And yet, still in 2021 clear cut runoff caused all this flood damage. How about some logging limits, BC GOV?
That’s unbelievably they built that in 20 months! That’s amazing ability from the 1980s. Now if we could just simply build an oil line that would get our oil to other countries beside the USA, we can be more self-reliant! As Canadians we can do anything we want if we work together! 🇨🇦
Love driving this in summer. The bank of the road is designed to maintain your speed of 120km... never have to slow for a curve. And the view of the mountain peaks is amazing. But then there is winter driving and crawling at 30km in a blizzard praying you make it out alive. Now the Coq is broken. 5 major bridges destroyed, 20 major sections washed away from the Nov 2021 catastrophic floods. If only we could teleport these amazing engineers and skilled highway construction crews from 1985 to 2022.
C'mon now that's not anyway near 80s music😉 it sounds more like late 60s early 70s documentary music almost like the kind you watched at school on those film reels.Lol
So they built this in 1.5 years, while with all the technological advancements of today they still can't finish a short length of highway construction just south of Port Mann Bridge for nearly a decade now.
Simple. Because now they can only work about 4 hours a day between union mandated breaks, inclusion and sensitivity training and spending quality time in safe spaces. Don't forget making sure that the concrete doesn't harm any fish a thousand KM away in Prince George.
@Nonyab Usiness Racist? I guess if unions were a "race" then yes, but since unions are an organization and not even close to being human, and environmentalists are also not classified as a "race", your comment is ridiculous. Appreciate the advice, but maybe you should sign up for a class on simple logic, because you're clearly confused by simple language. You are exactly what I was referring to when I wrote my original comment, and exactly why nothing can get done efficiently any longer. Too many snowflakes like you, crying about something and needing a safe space and a hug from mommy. Now get back to your mom's basement, troll.
We were more insular, starved for news in those days. I lived on Gabriola Island then and I was completely unaware this project was happening in my province. 24 hour days, 7 day weeks, taxpayers onside, cost no object, show up good for EXPO 86. Things were more clear cut then, easier to get done in a hurry. This highway is well known around the world now with the exposure of "Highway through Hell" and many visitors to BC include it in their tourism itinerary. It's a great achievement!
Honestly wish they didn't. Could have dropped the fees to like $2 per vehicle to ensure the road was always plowed and well maintained. Took a trip on the Coquihalla a month back. What was snow/ice covered, filled with pot hole, heavy truck ruts and severe deterioration. Kind of sad to see how bad the Govt has let this highway become.
The tolls continued long after the highway was paid for. They were finally lifted because of the ongoing complaints about the unfairness of the never-ending tolls.
@@robertcharpentier445 The tolls were going to general revenue, not to a maintenance fund for the Hwy. I drive that hwy yearly including this past January. It wasn't pristine but it was more than acceptable IMO. Unfortunately, the provincial purse has a lot of demands on it and hwy maintenance is not high on the list.
The Weather Channel has been running a series on TV titled "Highway Thru Hell" which involves three tow truck operating companies the service the Coquihalla .This is the first time that I heard of the roadway and thought that it is fictional. Evidently it's real.
They've got a pretty good snow removal detail, but it still gets a bit slippery in winter. Drove it last January. I opted to stay the night in Kelowna, rather than risk driving at night when there's icy patches on the road.
I have driven the Coq many times in all kinds of weather and unless you have a incident that was created by the weather, most of the accidents happen because people are driving too fast.
Amazing! Most times we enjoy these great works of engineering but don't pause to reflect back on what it took to build and how the natural landscape was changed.
@@freedombro6502 So correct - The US Military at the time built the Alaska Highway in 6 months with the help from Canada. The top Generals showed the President the project and explained why it was needed - he promptly and literally gave the US Army a Blank Cheque for national security
@@TheClintyp ...hundreds of millions. The Tsu T’ina reservation next to calgary received/receiving well over 300 million for a portion of ring road going across their reserve. plus they got there reserve extented to include replacement lands. Plus taxpayers had to cover the cost of the ring road.
@@rob379lqz it's getting out of control, and the government is causing it all, those chicken shits have to say enough already.......but they wont, I guess us tax payers will keep bending over.
The highway was built as fast as it was for one reason. Expo 86. We drove the “new” highway at the end of July and beginning of August in 86 for our trip to Expo.
@@charsback Yupp. In Ontario Highway 90 from Barrie to Angus took at least 8 years and it only takes about 15 minutes to drive end to end. Work pretty much stopped each winter though.
@@duncandmcgrath6290 This hwy was totally a political adventure and was never built or maintained properly. Full of potholes. ICBC sues the contracted maintenance company all the time for damage to vehicles for the freeway. Just like ICBC sues the new Port Mann bridge for the winter nonsense that has been going on since the second it opened.
I used to drive through here before the highway was built. It meant following the pipeline and using parts of the Kettle Valley Railway bed. Fording the river was fun except in spring and early summer when the water was high. And we did it in stock pickups or SUVs (Broncos, Blazers). Today, the shopping mall parking lots are loaded with modified 4x4s whose owners would never dare take their tinsel wagons in there. All those routes are now blocked by gates or cut off by the highway. Too bad. Great fun.
I also experienced driving the TRX road that blended with the Kettle Valley railway bed including driving through the train tunnels and seeing the earth movers way up in the mountains building something. I wasn’t aware at the time of the coke project. Afterwards, not happy to find that road cut off numerous times by gates and hwy dividers. The Falls lake trestle bridge was very impressive @1:21 minutes to see, knowing it was built in the late 1800’s.
Be fantastic to drive it in only 8 minutes. Drove it for the first time in June 2014 to Kelowna. My only dislike were the distance signs in kilometers. This was difficult for this American to figure out distance since the USA uses miles. Fantastic fun drive otherwise. I can only imagine how long the 'coke' will remain closed because of the recent catastrophic flooding that caused sections to collapse. I offer prayers of resiliency and patience to deal with the closures as it's being rebuilt. I look forward to coming back one day.
Great to hear,where are you from? I live on Vancouver Island but I work in Alberta a lot so I use the Coquihalla all the time,I couldn’t get home by driving now if I tried.
It's posted in kilometers because like much of the rest of the world, we use the metric system. The US is the only country to use the imperial system lol
What’s annoying is driving from Kelowna you have to drive down in to Merrit then back up and out to continue on to the coast. Should have been a bypass at Aspen Grove.
Hey thanks for the video a bunch of my friends made a lot of money on that project and a lot of politicians made a fortune by buying up the land before the public knew anything about the hyway project. "Can You Say Insider Trading" but I enjoyed the video. Cheers
20 months to build, yes, but preparations, planning and logistics, material stockpiling, and pre fab works, were being done several years in advance. They don't have that this time.
Let's hope they don't repair it as quickly. I would prefer it to be done safe & sound. Even if it takes 20months to repair the road & bridge. Then to run ruff shod & get it done quickly and have it collapse in the next heavy rains or snow storms. My thoughts only.
Wow....I thought the Coquihalla was much older! Very impressive engineering and thought of the environment in this project. So unfortunate of the current state its in with all the flooding!
A private company takes care of it now and it's all black ice, all winter. I have the steel plate in my knee to prove it. Flew off a cliff between hope and merrit.
That's not good. I have family members who had a accident up there on the Coke. He went to pass a semi coming on to highway after chaining up. His van got sucked back in to the tire rut. Hit the back of the semi, which drove a pipe through front windshield. Missed the passengers head, luckily her head shifted to the passengers window first before hitting the pipe, gave her brain damage though.(the other way would of been the pipe through the head) their son sitting in back seat on drivers side died from seat belt locking up. And their daughter broke her back from seat belt locking up. Driver broke his big toe. This happened about about 15 yrs ago.
They built a huge highway through rugged mountain terrain in 20 months, yet i have seen by Stettler Ab where it took close to 2 years to fix a bridge on.a railroad overpass 🤔
My brother in-law surveyed from the snow shed to Hope. They were taken in by helicopter in the morning and at times they couldn't get picked up due to weather. He said it was the hardest survey job he ever did.
They were supposed to take the tolls off once the highway was paid off but like everything they were crooked and kept tolling people long after it was paid off. The tool booths are finally gone at least. Got to love that 80's keyboard music lol
Awesome, this just appeared in my list. I was driving this hwy so many times... I avoid the winter driving thou. Its a fun hwy in the summer months. Hopefully next gen of technology will allow traffic to pass uninterruptedly in all seasons. Or those socks for cars and tricks be legalized so at least the part of putting chains to be easier.
Yeah. I drove it this last January, and there were some icy patches on the road, so I was going between 80 and 100 depending on the spot, even though the posted speed is 120. Somebody in his car passed me going 120. Okay, Mr. front-wheel drive, you do that.
Should of left the toll on the road. Charge something insignificant to all drivers and reinvest the money into that highway for maintenance and snow removal. I would gladly pay $2 a crossover to know the road was always plowed and the ruts from heavy trucks were filled.
@@bobhunt3197 Campbell and his cronies, u get an A ++ for that. The Liberals almost destroyed BC.Add to that and real Political Pundits told the real truth that the so called Liberals were the most extreme Right Wing political party ever in Canada. Make things worse - Clark was worse than Campbell
Yeah was great back then. Now they bring in huge immigration, which is not good for the environment as well as the people. Some countries need their young educated people to further their countries needs. We just need better education of our young. With more people in the labour market, but kids now a days are lazy & want cushy jobs where they are not so physical. And get their hands dirty.
@@glikar1 I also miss the old Golden road. All the twists and turns. Don't miss the backup for hours when there was an accident every other day in the summer.
I drove this today for the first time though the night and I’m still shook up about it . I almost died , there was a huge snowstorm while I was making my way and couldn’t see no more than 3 feet . My car isn’t a beast 98 rav 4 but she’s taken care of . so my confidence wasn’t 100% . I had just taken my winter tires off in Calgary seeing there was no snow there , I travelled to bc for work . Combine that with huge hills and snowy roads I was literally shaking . I pulled over for one brief second and a semi truck almost smoked me from the back . If I hadn’t took my foot off the break for one second I would of got hit from behind . I was scared for my life . Thankfully an ambulance made its way and found me in the middle of this mess . He asked if I was ok , than was basically telling me if I stay here it’s more dangerous . He also said if I can’t keep up he can’t wait for me. He was going pretty fast too I ended up losing him .I followed him down the mountain until it was clear while trying not to steer off the road or go to fast and risk sliding .and I’m feeling so thankful nothing bad happened . My wipers were freezing as the snow was too much for them to handle . It was nothing I ever experienced before . I’m thankful for the ambulance who was able to help me out . Thank you who ever you are .Looking at the storm was like staring into a vortex you cant see past . I felt so weird making it home , relief I made it and awe at how quickly things can get dangerous and how I made it down there alive . I’m thankful to be typing this message . Please don’t drive this at night unless you absolutely have to . I definitely learned my lesson . Life is precious . Such a beautiful drive in the day though .
Glad you are safe, Daneilo. Being a mountain pass, the Coquihalla experiences extreme weather. It's unfortunate you removed your winter tires before this drive, as they are a legal requirement on the Coquihalla (and other BC mountain passes) until April 30. Here is some information: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-and-cycling/traveller-information/seasonal/winter-driving/about-winter-tires
Wow a very big nice Projekt. Respekt for the ingenieure and the Worker 👍👍 A big Highway Projekt construktion in Kaschmir and in Russia, at Samara. The World brought more Ingenieure, Worker and technical, and no Militärs and political Personal with neurotic
Drove through there before it was built. From Mission to Merit. It was a long but nice drive. Now a days to many idiots that think it is a race track. First snow and they are ditch bound. Summer tires do not help.
The coquihalla was not BC's first corridor through the coast mountains. It was preceeded by roads and later a railroad through the Fraser canyon, and by the Dewdney trail, which later became the route of the Hope-Princeton highway.
We traveled this highway in /91. Beautiful views and smooth as......well, you know. Is it still a toll? And Quebec is still fixing roads since forever.
Wow, there is no way we could afford to build this today. The politics, scandals, cost overruns and protests would take 10 years and 3 elections to complete....at least. Then cancelled.
Now it takes 5 years to build one small bridge in Salmon Arm. Will take centuries to 4 lane rest of hwy 1 at this rate. Lots of pockets getting stuffed.
That type of project would have taken 20 years and cost 10 times as much as originally budgeted were it built in Quebec. One year late the perpetual repairs would begin.
I really appreciate the closing which states how we rushed this through to 'save millions in future fuel costs and economic savings" especially the note about those armadillos to avaoid flood water at 3:50 in the film. So now in 2015 we will see BILLIONS of dollars spent to fix the "Highway from Hell" where lots of accidents, closures to snow fall, flood water can remove whole mountains of roadway. I think this will be the Highway abondondment project of the 21st Century....
This story has changed dramatically. The horrendous floods BC is currently suffering took out this highway. A major bridge washed out and it will be months before the highway will be reopened. With winter coming it is even going to be harder to reconstruct the bridge. Mother Nature is all powerful.
I remember the first time coming back to BC from Alberta after they took out the toll booths. I cruised past the stretch of highway where the toll area used to be, $10 in hand, and started heading down the hill towards the snowshed. I was like, "What the... No way. The government wouldn't TAKE OUT a source of income would they?" lol.. Then I found out about the new bridge from Ft Langley to Maple Ridge. Toll bridge. Ah. Still, they basically made their money back from the Coquihalla tolls so it made sense to remove them.
I was just a kid but I remember every summer we went camping in BC and my parents paid the toll and then one summer when driving though my mom told us there’s no more tolls because the highway is paid off. one of those weird memories I retained.
Especially in the Sumas Prairie, it was just trying to get back to the lake it once was! Go back in time way back. Most all of BC was water, very little land. 100 million years ago Alberta was a sea, there was a sea called the Western sea which ran from the Artic circle down to Mexico. This was on B.C. side. So mother nature always had her fingers in the making of the earth & will continue as long as earth exists!
Won't take years to fix damages. They started already Nov 16/17. This is the best corridor for truckers to drive the products & goods through the province & beyond. So won't take years to fix. But hopefully they don't rush the fixing either. We all want it built safely. But it's no small task either.
Simply Amazing to think that this was done in a mere 20 months. Now we have PROJECTS that COST BILLIONS with HUNDREDS of MILLIONS *COUGH* *COUGH* BILLIONS in over runs, and they cant keep a time table even on small sections mere kilometers long.
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Makes me incredibly proud to know that my grandfather was the lead engineer on this project. Driving the Coq always brings back memories of him
Don't want to burst your bubble there, but what the hell happened? Highways being wiped out in flooding you can expect in places like China, but it's not reassuring to see that happen here....
@@johannaholmgren8088 it's called erosion. Over time little dirt & rock tumble down the embankment. With each passing season, then one day you get a wallop of rain or extra snow & poof it all falls down. The thing is a few times a year there should be students & teachers or they could use retired engineers ect to go out and visually inspect roads & bridges. Gives knowledge to students & retirees that still want to be useful at passing that knowledge on. Making it a win win situation. Students can't pass coarse if they don't get 1st hand knowledge, would help make roads & bridges safer.
Exactly my thoughts what the hell happened is right. For one they blasted out all the rock and build it on sandy gravel. Now they're putting big rock into fixing it something that should have been done since the start not get rid of it
dumbest responses to the main comment here. it’s called a natural disaster and can happen anywhere in the world.
O man I need some coq
Now a sequel will have to be made: The Coquihalla Gone in 8 Minutes
I was about to say the same thing due to all the epic flooding and massive washouts!!!
that is about it!!!
Probably another 8 months to get it fixed
@canadian or maybe it's just the climate change that's been warned about for years but ignored
@canadian lol
I cycled across Canada and got my bike up to 100kph coming down it. One of my proudest moments was when I ascended it the same time a guy in a jeep did, as he passed me he gave me a fist pump in the air :) nailed it
I worked on a section of the highway about 36km out of hope, helped install two of the armadillos that are mentioned. First real job out of high school with Cantex Construction. My father was a surveyor with the department of highways who also worked on this highway. When it was done we moved from Hope to Kamloops where he worked on the next phase.
The safest highway in Canada
When was that built?
@@danielasante8245 lol
Well you guys did a shitty job
Very good, we enjoyed it from the beginning
Back in my "hippie" life of the 70's I lived in a log cabin along the old Kettle railbed at Jessica, a 9 mile walk along the logging road from Hope. All the abandoned rail stops were named after Shakespeare's plays. Living with old Clayton Morris, bless his soul, who was a cowboy from the 1930's. To me he recounted his life about hopping freight cars and living in hobo jungles from the 1920's. His was a life of hardship and loneliness but his spiritual depth taught me so much about life I hold to this day. We ate stinging nettles and wild watercress to augment a meager diet. Now that is buried under a superhighway. All life is impermanent and changes constantly. We are dust in the wind. Om Mani Padme Hum.
my family has a cabin at jessica.
This same project today would take 20 years instead of 20 months. If it could get approved at all that is. After they consulted with every “group” and formed a committee about every decision. We used to be able to get shit done!
What is glossed over here is that it was that very rail corridor and all of the surveying that had been done before that made it happen so quickly. There weren't any big "surprises" during construction. Lessons that could have been learned with the site C project (a multitude of reports detailing the insecure footings of the area; that were glossed over because of good old fashioned hubris). If you rely on good data, you can avoid a lot of problems. That is the lesson of this.
Wow 20 months! Thats impressive. It took 5 years to finish 1 interchange near langley
Going to take 4 years to add another lane on the 104 in nova scotia lol
Now, if they could only do something about the potholes in the Willowbrook areas
Lol
That because the unions stepped in. Want projects to last forever and cost overruns invite union employees!
East end of Edmonton took 25+ to finally build the interchange for the Anthony Henday.
The earth ramp was in place in the early 1990s and wasn’t finished until ~2018.
Its soo great highway and made journey soo easy . i am truck driver and its the best highway for driving. soo beautifull view and good road. Thanks all the great workers and great minds those who built this awesome highway.❤️❤️
Did you see any of those mountain peaks driving on the coke?
You can have it, I’ll take the Canyon unless I’m really light.
Left out the best part...installing the concrete pylons on a 45-50 degree slope using a chopper. They had to cut back the snow so the rotor blades could just fit on the landing spot. The pylons support a cable which delivers charges to clear snow before it can avalanche onto the highway. Amazing video I was given to watch as we were supporting the highway build with special forecasts. we meaning the Canadian weather service!
Amazing work! I drove it, Its scary, but amazing. These days it takes 20 years and hundreds times the budget to plan to build a 45 km rail in Calgary!
At the same time further east in BC, CP Rail was building the Rogers Pass project through the Selkirk Mountains, yet another large undertaking Canada can be proud of!
I want to see a video of that.
Rogers pass highway was built MANY a years earlier
I worked with my father and brother to put up the lights at many of the intersections on the highway. The Coquihalla is also featured in Discovery Channel's 'Highway Thru Hell'. We still drive the highway today!! Makes the trip from Vancouver to Kamloops 3hr 20mins from the old 5hrs+ via the Canyon.
5 hours via the canyon!!??
Jezzus that's slow as snail snot
I can stop 3 times and make it faster.
That is incredible and just goes to show what can be achieved when people have a goal , put their minds and hearts into it and work together. I love the verse in proverbs..Where there is no vision , the people perish. Without vision there is no purpose or raison d'être ( reason for being) . People that built that must be proud of their work for sure.
This is so impressive. I used to fish the dry fly in the Coquihalla river. I watched as they slowly built the the highway more and more each trip.And then just before Expo 86 they rammed the road thru. I returned to a favorite spot and found the whole area flattened,huge earth moving machines,a backhoe picking away in the middle of the river,which ran thick with mud. A superintendant waving his arms directing his workers. This project was going to show how industry and the fish in the river were compatible and that both, would thrive. And how did the project work out,you might ask,for the beautiful synchronicity of man's loving relationship with nature and it's priceless steelhead? Why, the Coquihalla River Steelhead are extinct of course. They murdered the river and it's fish.A perfect example of mankind's triumph over the natural world.
No Doubt!
Ahhh but they said in the documentary that the fish habitat was left better than when it started, feel good film moments 😝
My father used to fly fish the Coq before the 1950s pipeline went through and he said the same thing about that construction, with the sediment killing off the salmon and steelhead fishery in the Coquihalla in the 1950s. He'd take me to the Schoolhouse Pool in the 1960s and try for a fish, but not much going on. Then in the 1960s clear cut logging on the mountains caused a few huge floods to wipe out the Silver Creek Steelhead and Pink runs too. And yet, still in 2021 clear cut runoff caused all this flood damage. How about some logging limits, BC GOV?
That’s unbelievably they built that in 20 months! That’s amazing ability from the 1980s.
Now if we could just simply build an oil line that would get our oil to other countries beside the USA, we can be more self-reliant!
As Canadians we can do anything we want if we work together! 🇨🇦
Built before smart phones : )
No one wants that tar from Alberta
Love driving this in summer. The bank of the road is designed to maintain your speed of 120km... never have to slow for a curve. And the view of the mountain peaks is amazing. But then there is winter driving and crawling at 30km in a blizzard praying you make it out alive. Now the Coq is broken. 5 major bridges destroyed, 20 major sections washed away from the Nov 2021 catastrophic floods. If only we could teleport these amazing engineers and skilled highway construction crews from 1985 to 2022.
❤Such a Beautiful highway to drive ! What an accomplishment for the 1986 Expo ! Congratulations ! ❤
Great project and great crew that built it...Proud of everyone...Canada can do anything she puts her minds too...
Builder99 not so much lately. Imagine the protests if this was built now!?
Canada Used to be able to do anything she put her mind to.
It wld.be considered Racist to build that Hwy today...
Hi is Canada a woman? Lol
Anyone else ever join the Coquihalla Caravan before this highway was built? Was an amazing day trip. Dirt road, natural rock bridge... great memory.
I worked for the Ministry in the paving branch out of the Dawson camp in 85.Great crew originally from Parksville
I love the music, so delightfully '80s
Us too. ;)
C'mon now that's not anyway near 80s music😉 it sounds more like late 60s early 70s documentary music almost like the kind you watched at school on those film reels.Lol
@@jbrobertson6052 I agree with you! Just an age thing. Not old but 57. Lol.
@@ynot0714
I know what you mean about the age thing but I always wondered who that old guy was who was looking back at me in the mirror lol
@@jbrobertson6052 Right there with ya but I prefer to say "older" guy not old. Ha. I'm not giving up yet! :-)
So they built this in 1.5 years, while with all the technological advancements of today they still can't finish a short length of highway construction just south of Port Mann Bridge for nearly a decade now.
Exactly. How did they do this that fast? Real mnts.
Simple. Because now they can only work about 4 hours a day between union mandated breaks, inclusion and sensitivity training and spending quality time in safe spaces. Don't forget making sure that the concrete doesn't harm any fish a thousand KM away in Prince George.
@Nonyab Usiness Racist? I guess if unions were a "race" then yes, but since unions are an organization and not even close to being human, and environmentalists are also not classified as a "race", your comment is ridiculous. Appreciate the advice, but maybe you should sign up for a class on simple logic, because you're clearly confused by simple language. You are exactly what I was referring to when I wrote my original comment, and exactly why nothing can get done efficiently any longer. Too many snowflakes like you, crying about something and needing a safe space and a hug from mommy. Now get back to your mom's basement, troll.
@Nonyab Usiness nothing he said is racist. You’re just an idiot.
He was making a sarcastic point guys.
We were more insular, starved for news in those days. I lived on Gabriola Island then and I was completely unaware this project was happening in my province.
24 hour days, 7 day weeks, taxpayers onside, cost no object, show up good for EXPO 86. Things were more clear cut then, easier to get done in a hurry.
This highway is well known around the world now with the exposure of "Highway through Hell" and many visitors to BC include it in their tourism itinerary. It's a great achievement!
Calgary to Vancouver in 9.5 hours. Thank you Coquihalla.
Now it probably cost you nine days.
Yup me too. Love driving that route in my convertible mustang in the summer.
what is interesting also is that the tolls were taken off when it was paid off, the BC gov't actually kept the promise , a tax grab missed
Honestly wish they didn't. Could have dropped the fees to like $2 per vehicle to ensure the road was always plowed and well maintained. Took a trip on the Coquihalla a month back. What was snow/ice covered, filled with pot hole, heavy truck ruts and severe deterioration. Kind of sad to see how bad the Govt has let this highway become.
The tolls continued long after the highway was paid for. They were finally lifted because of the ongoing complaints about the unfairness of the never-ending tolls.
@@MrTingabug ya and now look at the shape of it
@@robertcharpentier445 The tolls were going to general revenue, not to a maintenance fund for the Hwy. I drive that hwy yearly including this past January. It wasn't pristine but it was more than acceptable IMO. Unfortunately, the provincial purse has a lot of demands on it and hwy maintenance is not high on the list.
@@ZRaden You should see it Today Bridges are washed out .
my right ear really enjoyed this video.
I had a very very small part in the Coq doing some contract work for a traffic control company. My how time flies!
Amazing achievement. Hats off to all involved.
An ingeneering marvel/ miracle!! Kudos to all. Come below the border & show our guys how this is done...please.
The Weather Channel has been running a series on TV titled "Highway Thru Hell" which involves three tow truck operating companies the service the Coquihalla .This is the first time that I heard of the roadway and thought that it is fictional. Evidently it's real.
They've got a pretty good snow removal detail, but it still gets a bit slippery in winter. Drove it last January. I opted to stay the night in Kelowna, rather than risk driving at night when there's icy patches on the road.
I have driven the Coq many times in all kinds of weather and unless you have a incident that was created by the weather, most of the accidents happen because people are driving too fast.
Highway Thru Hell is the nickname for hell's gate Hwy 1 in the Fraser canyon.
Jamie Davis taught me about this highway.
really great video.. always wanted to know history behind one of most important highway of Canada
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
Had to be ready for Expo 86 . Great fair
Let's have a fair in northern Ontario.
Amazing! Most times we enjoy these great works of engineering but don't pause to reflect back on what it took to build and how the natural landscape was changed.
Simply put: EXPO '86 $$
Aaah
Oh of course
I didn't think of that
absolutely
Thanks hong Kong
Can you say human trafficking money laundering BS???
Praise the men who built it. Thank you.
And the women. My Mom worked for Dawson construction and did all the payroll while they did the paving.
back when we could get things done in this province. it’s so sad now.
Fast track design and construction , another term for "Lets get his thing done before the tree huggers start whining"
Thats the truth
@@freedombro6502 So correct - The US Military at the time built the Alaska Highway in 6 months with the help from Canada. The top Generals showed the President the project and explained why it was needed - he promptly and literally gave the US Army a Blank Cheque for national security
Dumb comment.
This project would have never been approved today.
Ya, except the leftists don’t understand that safety and efficiency over-the-long term was wise even today aboot 40 years since after inception...
@@rob379lqz BS, Expo was the reason.
Yup, the indians would have shut it down......unless we paid them millions and then it would be ok.
@@TheClintyp ...hundreds of millions. The Tsu T’ina reservation next to calgary received/receiving well over 300 million for a portion of ring road going across their reserve. plus they got there reserve extented to include replacement lands. Plus taxpayers had to cover the cost of the ring road.
@@rob379lqz it's getting out of control, and the government is causing it all, those chicken shits have to say enough already.......but they wont, I guess us tax payers will keep bending over.
I have driven Uber it since I moved here 30 years ago chained up a lot Seeing snow in July there is not out of the ordinary
The highway was built as fast as it was for one reason. Expo 86.
We drove the “new” highway at the end of July and beginning of August in 86 for our trip to Expo.
Of course...Otherwise with todays gov.It wld.be a 30yr.project...
@@charsback
Yupp. In Ontario Highway 90 from Barrie to Angus took at least 8 years and it only takes about 15 minutes to drive end to end.
Work pretty much stopped each winter though.
When building something meant something nowadays its all about politics and money.
You got it! Whose pockets get lined!
And Faceless Book
Always been that way
@@duncandmcgrath6290 This hwy was totally a political adventure and was never built or maintained properly. Full of potholes. ICBC sues the contracted maintenance company all the time for damage to vehicles for the freeway. Just like ICBC sues the new Port Mann bridge for the winter nonsense that has been going on since the second it opened.
I used to drive through here before the highway was built. It meant following the pipeline and using parts of the Kettle Valley Railway bed. Fording the river was fun except in spring and early summer when the water was high. And we did it in stock pickups or SUVs (Broncos, Blazers).
Today, the shopping mall parking lots are loaded with modified 4x4s whose owners would never dare take their tinsel wagons in there.
All those routes are now blocked by gates or cut off by the highway. Too bad. Great fun.
I also experienced driving the TRX road that blended with the Kettle Valley railway bed including driving through the train tunnels and seeing the earth movers way up in the mountains building something. I wasn’t aware at the time of the coke project. Afterwards, not happy to find that road cut off numerous times by gates and hwy dividers. The Falls lake trestle bridge was very impressive @1:21 minutes to see, knowing it was built in the late 1800’s.
Be fantastic to drive it in only 8 minutes. Drove it for the first time in June 2014 to Kelowna. My only dislike were the distance signs in kilometers. This was difficult for this American to figure out distance since the USA uses miles. Fantastic fun drive otherwise. I can only imagine how long the 'coke' will remain closed because of the recent catastrophic flooding that caused sections to collapse. I offer prayers of resiliency and patience to deal with the closures as it's being rebuilt. I look forward to coming back one day.
Great to hear,where are you from? I live on Vancouver Island but I work in Alberta a lot so I use the Coquihalla all the time,I couldn’t get home by driving now if I tried.
"the USA uses miles..." Yeah, you Americans are one of the last holdouts on that.
It's posted in kilometers because like much of the rest of the world, we use the metric system. The US is the only country to use the imperial system lol
As we speak they are all ready doing the repairs. (November 25th) gotta start before the heavy snow falls.
Ahh the music is so 1980s.
Definitely a challenging place to build a highway.
Lovely presentation. Makes you to wish to drive all the way from Toronto to experience this...
i was there on opening day what a miraculous project
sad to say it took 20 months to build and a couple days to get destroy by the mudslides right now in BC
I was looking for a recent comment, one of these bridges in this video was destroyed by recent rains
@@twostop6895 yeah I know.
And #AlQuiring and #GordBoyd keep it open and flowing. Big Green always wins.
What’s annoying is driving from Kelowna you have to drive down in to Merrit then back up and out to continue on to the coast. Should have been a bypass at Aspen Grove.
We build the Coquihalla highway in 20 months, and now we are going to spend 40 months just fixing a few sections,- I am amazed
Hey thanks for the video a bunch of my friends made a lot of money on that project and a lot of politicians made a fortune by buying up the land before the public knew anything about the hyway project. "Can You Say Insider Trading" but I enjoyed the video. Cheers
My kind of video quality for my xplornet connection!
Hopefully they can repair it as swiftly as it was built after all the flooding damage. I'm more optimistic after seeing this video!
20 months to build, yes, but preparations, planning and logistics, material stockpiling, and pre fab works, were being done several years in advance. They don't have that this time.
Let's hope they don't repair it as quickly. I would prefer it to be done safe & sound. Even if it takes 20months to repair the road & bridge. Then to run ruff shod & get it done quickly and have it collapse in the next heavy rains or snow storms. My thoughts only.
YEAH !! , WELL IT'S
All UNDER WATER 2021
It took almost a year to finish one bridge over a small stream in Barrie Ontario. My street was closed down for almost a year
Wow....I thought the Coquihalla was much older! Very impressive engineering and thought of the environment in this project. So unfortunate of the current state its in with all the flooding!
A private company takes care of it now and it's all black ice, all winter. I have the steel plate in my knee to prove it. Flew off a cliff between hope and merrit.
That's not good. I have family members who had a accident up there on the Coke. He went to pass a semi coming on to highway after chaining up. His van got sucked back in to the tire rut. Hit the back of the semi, which drove a pipe through front windshield. Missed the passengers head, luckily her head shifted to the passengers window first before hitting the pipe, gave her brain damage though.(the other way would of been the pipe through the head) their son sitting in back seat on drivers side died from seat belt locking up. And their daughter broke her back from seat belt locking up. Driver broke his big toe. This happened about about 15 yrs ago.
They built a huge highway through rugged mountain terrain in 20 months, yet i have seen by Stettler Ab where it took close to 2 years to fix a bridge on.a railroad overpass 🤔
My brother in-law surveyed from the snow shed to Hope. They were taken in by helicopter in the morning and at times they couldn't get picked up due to weather. He said it was the hardest survey job he ever did.
a little company called vally rentals supplied all the compaction equipment on that project....
They were supposed to take the tolls off once the highway was paid off but like everything they were crooked and kept tolling people long after it was paid off. The tool booths are finally gone at least. Got to love that 80's keyboard music lol
New govt, source of income, greed...no math reqd
thats epic. Its taken Nova Scotia literally lifetimes to twin its series of existing highways through very passible terrain.
Of course this is in the recommended.... Been watching to much BC flood footage ....
🎄🎄🎄 Amazing how that was built !! 👍👍👍
Awesome, this just appeared in my list. I was driving this hwy so many times... I avoid the winter driving thou. Its a fun hwy in the summer months. Hopefully next gen of technology will allow traffic to pass uninterruptedly in all seasons. Or those socks for cars and tricks be legalized so at least the part of putting chains to be easier.
Yeah. I drove it this last January, and there were some icy patches on the road, so I was going between 80 and 100 depending on the spot, even though the posted speed is 120. Somebody in his car passed me going 120. Okay, Mr. front-wheel drive, you do that.
Now if they could figure out a way to maintain it in the winter, you know like the roads were when the government looked after the highways.
You win for "comment of the Year!"
Should of left the toll on the road. Charge something insignificant to all drivers and reinvest the money into that highway for maintenance and snow removal. I would gladly pay $2 a crossover to know the road was always plowed and the ruts from heavy trucks were filled.
@@ZRaden The tolls were taken off just before a provincial election, good old Gordon Campbell and his cronies.
@@bobhunt3197 Campbell and his cronies, u get an A ++ for that. The Liberals almost destroyed BC.Add to that and real Political Pundits told the real truth that the so called Liberals were the most extreme Right Wing political party ever in Canada. Make things worse - Clark was worse than Campbell
@@ZRaden I totally agree with you! I'd gladly pay it!
They are upgrading 2km of water main where I live and it’s been 2 years already!
Well I'm sure if they had a thousand pieces of equipment and worked 24 hours a day it would of been done quicker
Imagine, the population of BC in 1986 was small compared to 2021
Yeah was great back then. Now they bring in huge immigration, which is not good for the environment as well as the people. Some countries need their young educated people to further their countries needs. We just need better education of our young. With more people in the labour market, but kids now a days are lazy & want cushy jobs where they are not so physical. And get their hands dirty.
drove this hwy once in winter; will never do that again...
Everyone does it once in the winter to see their life flash before them.
@@mr2_mike exactly...
Lol, still better than going the old Princeton way in the winter.
@@glikar1 I also miss the old Golden road. All the twists and turns.
Don't miss the backup for hours when there was an accident every other day in the summer.
My dad was one of the welders on all the bridges of this highway.
I even feel safer now!
Many different bridges only one fabricator company?
My cousins worked on the road crews for the full project. Driven this highway many times
The same can be said for the SkyTrain. The first line from the Waterfront to New Westminster was completed in about 45 months.
@@unnamed4461 wow. Mr positivity!
SMH...
I drove this today for the first time though the night and I’m still shook up about it . I almost died , there was a huge snowstorm while I was making my way and couldn’t see no more than 3 feet . My car isn’t a beast 98 rav 4 but she’s taken care of . so my confidence wasn’t 100% . I had just taken my winter tires off in Calgary seeing there was no snow there , I travelled to bc for work . Combine that with huge hills and snowy roads I was literally shaking . I pulled over for one brief second and a semi truck almost smoked me from the back . If I hadn’t took my foot off the break for one second I would of got hit from behind . I was scared for my life . Thankfully an ambulance made its way and found me in the middle of this mess . He asked if I was ok , than was basically telling me if I stay here it’s more dangerous . He also said if I can’t keep up he can’t wait for me. He was going pretty fast too I ended up losing him .I followed him down the mountain until it was clear while trying not to steer off the road or go to fast and risk sliding .and I’m feeling so thankful nothing bad happened . My wipers were freezing as the snow was too much for them to handle . It was nothing I ever experienced before . I’m thankful for the ambulance who was able to help me out . Thank you who ever you are .Looking at the storm was like staring into a vortex you cant see past . I felt so weird making it home , relief I made it and awe at how quickly things can get dangerous and how I made it down there alive . I’m thankful to be typing this message . Please don’t drive this at night unless you absolutely have to . I definitely learned my lesson . Life is precious . Such a beautiful drive in the day though .
Edit : not 100% sure if it was the same road as there were some floods , but was on the way back from Vancouver to bc if that helps
Glad you are safe, Daneilo. Being a mountain pass, the Coquihalla experiences extreme weather. It's unfortunate you removed your winter tires before this drive, as they are a legal requirement on the Coquihalla (and other BC mountain passes) until April 30. Here is some information: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-and-cycling/traveller-information/seasonal/winter-driving/about-winter-tires
Wow a very big nice Projekt.
Respekt for the ingenieure and the Worker 👍👍
A big Highway Projekt construktion in Kaschmir and in Russia, at Samara.
The World brought more Ingenieure, Worker and technical, and no Militärs and political Personal with neurotic
Drove through there before it was built. From Mission to Merit. It was a long but nice drive. Now a days to many idiots that think it is a race track. First snow and they are ditch bound. Summer tires do not help.
Speed limit is 120 KPH or 75 MPH
The coquihalla was not BC's first corridor through the coast mountains. It was preceeded by roads and later a railroad through the Fraser canyon, and by the Dewdney trail, which later became the route of the Hope-Princeton highway.
You really don't appreciate stereo audio until you remember what it sounded like as mono.
We traveled this highway in /91. Beautiful views and smooth as......well, you know. Is it still a toll?
And Quebec is still fixing roads since forever.
Hi Shelley. There are no longer tolls.
@@MinistryofTranBC Unbelievable engineering, but that bridge near Golden is still awesome!
Wow, there is no way we could afford to build this today. The politics, scandals, cost overruns and protests would take 10 years and 3 elections to complete....at least. Then cancelled.
Looks like they're gonna have to rebuild huge sections of it.
Now it takes 5 years to build one small bridge in Salmon Arm. Will take centuries to 4 lane rest of hwy 1 at this rate. Lots of pockets getting stuffed.
No. Its taking a few years to do a major highway project that has a new bridge as a small part of that project
Very impressive.
Feel like FPV drone shots and regular drone footage... but its all helichoppa, impressive
Great video!
Drove it a couple of times, but not in the winter, I usually stayed on ?Highway 1 thru the Fraser Canyon.
here in Wi they've been working on a 30 mile piece of interstate for 10 years just to widen it
That type of project would have taken 20 years and cost 10 times as much as originally budgeted were it built in Quebec. One year late the perpetual repairs would begin.
S.N.C. Lavilan doing the work! 🤣😲😆 Might explain it all.
1:55 Thanks to Weird Al for taking time off his busy music schedule in order to survey this highway for us!!!
I really appreciate the closing which states how we rushed this through to 'save millions in future fuel costs and economic savings" especially the note about those armadillos to avaoid flood water at 3:50 in the film. So now in 2015 we will see BILLIONS of dollars spent to fix the "Highway from Hell" where lots of accidents, closures to snow fall, flood water can remove whole mountains of roadway. I think this will be the Highway abondondment project of the 21st Century....
CSX Transportation of the U*S*S*R*, we will help move goods in the name of the Soviet Union while you peasants starve to death!!
Nope they won't close it! Saves people time. Time is money especially when you are a trucker moving goods around provinces.
This story has changed dramatically. The horrendous floods BC is currently suffering took out this highway. A major bridge washed out and it will be months before the highway will be reopened. With winter coming it is even going to be harder to reconstruct the bridge. Mother Nature is all powerful.
That's just exciting. We were building stuff like China today. When did we stopped being ambitious?
Mr vanderzam was premier when this was done, he also built phase one and two sky train!
Bill Bennett was premier then, not Vander Zalm
My Dad was a Blaster for the new highway
Cool! Any interesting stories?
He was also Apart Of Building inland island Hwy
I remember the first time coming back to BC from Alberta after they took out the toll booths. I cruised past the stretch of highway where the toll area used to be, $10 in hand, and started heading down the hill towards the snowshed. I was like, "What the... No way. The government wouldn't TAKE OUT a source of income would they?" lol.. Then I found out about the new bridge from Ft Langley to Maple Ridge. Toll bridge. Ah. Still, they basically made their money back from the Coquihalla tolls so it made sense to remove them.
I was just a kid but I remember every summer we went camping in BC and my parents paid the toll and then one summer when driving though my mom told us there’s no more tolls because the highway is paid off. one of those weird memories I retained.
The Port Mann was a toll bridge after they rebuilt it
"...speeding access from the coast to the Interior..." ain't THAT the truth!
Flying Phill made a fortune here.
Man moved the rivers, mother nature put them back.
Especially in the Sumas Prairie, it was just trying to get back to the lake it once was! Go back in time way back. Most all of BC was water, very little land. 100 million years ago Alberta was a sea, there was a sea called the Western sea which ran from the Artic circle down to Mexico. This was on B.C. side. So mother nature always had her fingers in the making of the earth & will continue as long as earth exists!
Built from scratch in 20 months but years to fix some damage.
Won't take years to fix damages. They started already Nov 16/17. This is the best corridor for truckers to drive the products & goods through the province & beyond. So won't take years to fix. But hopefully they don't rush the fixing either. We all want it built safely. But it's no small task either.
Out standing shipmate. Press on.
Simply Amazing to think that this was done in a mere 20 months. Now we have PROJECTS that COST BILLIONS with HUNDREDS of MILLIONS *COUGH* *COUGH* BILLIONS in over runs, and they cant keep a time table even on small sections mere kilometers long.