Kicking Horse Pass Canyon Project.

The Kicking Horse Canyon Project (KHCP) involves upgrading the Trans-Canada Highway from two to four lanes between Golden, B.C., and Yoho National Park. The existing highway through the Kicking Horse Canyon was constructed when the original Yoho and Park bridges were completed in 1956. The highway runs through very difficult terrain and is of substandard design, with a low operating speed and a very poor level of safety. This includes the highest rates of animal-vehicle collisions on the mainland Trans-Canada Highway within British Columbia. The reliability of the highway is compromised because of the difficult terrain, which is the primary cause of a variety of natural hazards such as avalanches and debris torrents with little mitigation at present. The difficult terrain and challenging geotechnical conditions require exceptionally high capital expenditures to implement the desired improvements. These high costs have been the primary reason in the past for not embarking on an aggressive upgrading strategy to address the much needed operational and safety deficiencies. This project was nominated for the TAC 2007 Environmental Achievement Award. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E216597.