Bamfield Road will be getting a $30-million upgrade, one year after two University of Victoria students died when the bus they were riding in rolled off the gravel road.
Alberni-Pacific Rim MLA Scott Fraser, also Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, made the announcement Friday, Sept. 11 from Victoria. The province will spend $25.7 million with $5 million coming from the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, whose territory includes Anacla and Bamfield on Vancouver Islandsa国际传媒檚 west coast. The Huu-ay-aht will oversee the project with technical support from consulting firm Urban Systems.
The 76-kilometre unpaved industrial road will be chipsealed, which the Huu-ay-aht determined was the best way to make it safe. Chipsealing will give it a hard surface, but is not the same as paving it. The road is the main ground transportation link between Port Alberni, Bamfield and Anacla for medical, emergency and community access. It is the only road access to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, and is considered the gateway to the West Coast Trailsa国际传媒攎eaning people from all over the world drive it to get to the trailhead.
Students John Geerdes of Iowa City, Iowa and Emma MacIntosh Machado, 18, from Winnipeg were en route to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Sept. 13, 2019, when their bus rolled off the road and down an embankment. There were 48 people on board, including the driver when the bus crashed at the 36-kilometre mark. Three were airlifted to hospital in critical condition and numerous others were injured.
Following the fatal crash, the provincial government struck a working group with Huu-ay-aht First Nations and local forest companies to discuss safety upgrades.
The UVic students were the latest to die on Bamfield Road, but they werensa国际传媒檛 the first. The Huu-ay-aht First Nations have lost eight members over the past two decades to accidents, and more who have been injured. Tayii Hawil (Hereditary Chief) Derek Peters said his grandfather was killed in an accident on Bamfield Road.
sa国际传媒淎 lot of lives have been lost on that road,sa国际传媒� Peters said.
sa国际传媒淥ur nation was forever changed when Tayii Hawil Art Peters, my grandfather, was killed on Bamfield Road. It is tragic that it took the loss of so many to highlight the need for chipsealing the road, but we honour the ones we have lost by doing everything we can to prevent the loss of life along this vital link in the future.sa国际传媒�
Chief Councillor Robert Dennis Sr. said two people have in the past few months been in collisions with logging trucks due to excessive dust on the gravel road.
Stakeholders have criticized the amount of time it has taken for this announcement. The Huu-ay-aht First Nations, whose territory comprises Anacla, a community right next to Bamfield, have been asking for 20 years for improvements. They have lost eight members in crashes along the road in that time.
Fraser said he has spent 16 years in various political roles trying to get the governments of the day to act. He blamed confusion over jurisdiction for the delay. sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 fallen through the cracks in the system,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淲hat I was told by the previous government is it wasnsa国际传媒檛 their responsibility because of the ownership issues.sa国际传媒�
Status of the road will not change, he added, although the Huu-ay-aht will oversee maintenance. The roadsa国际传媒檚 designation will also not change despite a recommendation in 2008 by BC Forest Safety Ombudsperson Roger Harris to create a new designation for logging roads that serve as a communitysa国际传媒檚 primary or secondary access road.
Fraser said the announcement is part of the BC governmentsa国际传媒檚 COVID revitalization plan. No construction timeline has been setsa国际传媒攖he treasury board only approved the project a week ago, he noted. sa国际传媒淲e need to get shovels in the ground very quickly.sa国际传媒�
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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