Road work continues on the Hurley with road closures happening for most of the day, midweek from 8am-4pm.   The road is only open on the even hours and you need to be there 15 mins before opening to get through.   eg: 10am, noon, 2pm.  This is all the information we currently have, if we get any more information it will be posted here.

As you may know this spring, MLA Sturdy and MLA Tegart, in response to many complaints from area residents worked to make some changes with the Hurley River Rd. As a result of their efforts the Hurley River Rd. was brought under one Ministry, FLNRO (Forests etc).

This will ensure consistent management of the route, improve road safety for summer travellers and importantly, legitimize off-road vehicle use.  This initiative came from the community and lots of benefits will flow to residents including opportunities to promote local economic development.

What was not included in this change was the ongoing snow clearing in mid-late spring. This caused a reaction from our travelling public. The MLAs were quite surprised by this, I personally put it down to the fact that the community wasn’t discussing snow plowing in their letters originally, they were discussing the condition of the road. Additionally, in the work the MLAs were doing over the winter to address the Hurley River Rd. condition, it was my expectation that they would increase the budget somewhat to address both the spring opening (via snow removal) and improved overall maintenance.  However, given that the importance of a spring opening (via snow removal) was not included in so many of the letters written, and that it is the FLNRO policy not to remove snow on an FSR unless it is the only access to an area, let to general set of misunderstandings between MLAs Sturdy and Tegart; the FLNRO ministry and our community. In any case, the MLAs feel they don’t understand the consensus of taxpayers in this area on how this road should be maintained. As a result I agreed to do this survey to see if we can develop that consensus through information gathering.

Here is some additional factual information regarding the Hurley River Rd.
1. The annual budget for road maintenance in 2014 is $71,400. There is also a one-time transfer from MOTI to FLNR of $80,000 for 2014 that will be used for resurfacing from 18.5 km to 23 km on the Pemberton side of the pass. The tendered bid came in at over $90,000.
2. The average cost of opening the road in the spring was close to $30,000 from 2007 through 2013. The road was not opened until later in June in 2007 due to avalanche risks and it cost over $80,000 in 2012. If we take those two years out is has averaged a little over $20,000 for the other 5 years.
3.The average cost of grading the road once from end to end will be around $17,000 this year. $3,000 up to the bridge on the Pemberton side, $11,000 from the bridge to the 9 km marker on the Gold Bridge end and $3,000 to the bridge at 1 km on the Gold Bridge end. With 3 grades in the middle and 6 grades at each end the cost will be around $69,000 this year. FLNRO  had to use a water truck for one of our grades this year which added an additional $1,000. Road/weather conditions can vary these costs annually.
4. Other costs that FLNRO will have to cover over time for safety include bridge maintenance/repairs and brushing. spent around $15,000 on bridge repairs around 5 years ago and spent around $30,000 brushing the road from Gold Bridge to the pass a few years back as well. These costs usually come up every 5 to 10 years and the bridge costs could be higher than what was spent 5 years ago. Several sections along the road have inadequate surfacing material as well. Using the 2014 bid as an estimate it would cost around $20,000/km to resurface other sections along the route.

Thank you to FLNRO for supplying this information.

Please complete this survey thoughtfully.. IT IS IMPORTANT and it will MAKE A DIFFERENCE!    We will leave the survey open until October 19.

Click on this link to take the survey