Thank you to our Area A, Regional District Director Sal DeMare for this Hurley update.
Information from Cascades Forest District FSR Engineering Officer
regarding the opening of the Hurley:
I contacted the Cascades Forest District FSR Engineering Officer and asked a few questions regarding the opening of the Hurley. These were the replies I received:
“As to the opening of the Hurley, I will continue to move forward with monitoring the avalanche hazard and see when that has abated. The other contracts are either in place or being finalized as I type and are ready to start as soon as it is safe to work/travel under the active avalanche tracts. As you are aware, aiming for a specific date for the opening is tricky as there are many moving parts to this subject such as snow loading along the FSR, snowcat usage and compaction/creation of ice from Hope Creek South, spring weather, avalanche hazards along with others. We will aim for beginning works as soon as it is safe and then see what the contractor’s production is once several days work is behind us.
I will definitely keep you posted as to where we are with the progress on both the opening and first grading. I have been unable to find more information on whether or not some of that windrow is still along the section we discussed before or of it was graded across the FSR.
I have sent an email to the MOTI avalanche tech and will ask him about the sharing of his information and if possible give you a copy of his most recent report.”
As you can see I will update as more information is received.
Hurley Road Funding:
I asked the Engineering Officer questions regarding extra funding as we received last year and also yearly Road Maintenance Budget increases. The replies area below:
Has there been any more funding applied for this year for road bed material? I have applications in for the FEP program again, but have been told that the program has been clawed back drastically and to not expect any approvals under that source.
Has there been a decision yet for more funding for FSR Road Maintenance, that you had previously referred to from the Provincial Treasury Department? Late last week we were told that the treasury submission was not approved and in fact I am to expect to have a 20% reduction in my base budget for the next 3 years.
It looks like last year was the only funding increase we can expect for the near future. We will make our dollars stretch and keep our eyes/ears open for any other funding sources we can leverage.
Trip to Snow Line on the Hurley:
As you can see from a previous comment that the Engineering Officer did not know if the windrow from the ditching program last year was graded in the middle section of the road. I took a trip up to the snow line to look and also see where the snow line was at and to also look at the road condition. Below is my report back to the Engineering Officer:
“I just got back from a drive up to the snow line on the Hurley at just past the 23 km mark from the start in Gold Bridge. I have attached pictures and kmz file of where the snow starts. A few items for your considerations:
- The sign at the start of the Hurley was in the open position so I closed it.
- Coming up the hill past the turn off to the Bridge Main FSR there is some water damage to the road due to the spring runoff.
- In the Green Mountain area the ground was soft at the end of the year due to the material that was layed down and now it is rutted and hardened.
- There are sections that received very little or no material put down.
- The section past where Bridge River Mechanical finished their contract was really not touched (middle section) by the contractor coming up from the Pemberton side due to the snow fall last year and has the ditching material still on the side of it. This section was never really graded last year and was and is in terribly rough condition with many pot holes and in sections the width is also narrow due to the material on the side of it.
- I know from my last trip over the Hurley last year that the side from Pemberton was in good shape up to the summit and just past it but as stated before the middle section was in terrible shape so definitely will need some work first thing.
- I don’t know if anyone from your department will be out this way, but if someone is I would gladly take a drive up there with them.”
Communication’s with our MLA Jackie Tegart:
I had been copying the Cascades Forest District Manager, Jackie Tegart and Jordan Sturdy in my communication’s. From these communication’s I asked for help regarding funding for the road and Jackie Tegart sent a letter to the BC Government’s Honorable Katrine Conroy the Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations. This is a link to the Letter:
To send a similar letter to the Honorable Minister Katrine Conroy (FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca) you have all the details in the PDF in the link. You can also Cc MLA’s Jackie Tegart (Jackie.Tegart.MLA@leg.bc.ca); and Jordan Sturdy (jordan.sturdy.mla@leg.bc.ca), and myself (saldemare27@gmail.com)
