North Thompson
Construction along Highway 5 will continue this summer in the North Thompson region of British Columbia between Valemount and Barrière. Maintaining the flow of traffic is a priority as crews and equipment continue to work in this area. Many worksites are near the highway. We encourage you to follow all posted construction speed limits and follow the directions of road safety signage and personnel.
Right-of-way preparation and clearing are ongoing this summer between Valemount and Vavenby. You may see crews removing trees, vegetation and topsoil. There is potential that our typical work hours will be adapted due to fire restrictions. If this is the case, crews may work at night as we take extra precautions to ensure we are doing our part to mitigate fire risks this summer.
From Vavenby to Barrière, construction will be in various stages and range from right-of-way preparation to stringing, bending, joining and installing the pipe. As these stages commence, there will be an increase in visible lengths of pipe laid end-to-end on the pipeline right-of-way as well as numerous welding trucks and side booms.
Several trenchless crossings will take place this summer to install the pipe underneath sections of Highway 5. Crews are using a guided horizontal auger to bore a hole under the road and thread lengths of assembled pipe through it. This is the preferred method for this task as it will have minimal disruption to traffic and services. You may see the launch pit or an auger boring machine as you drive through this region.
There will be access to all amenities in the North Thompson Provincial and Finn Creek Provincial Park even though construction will be ongoing near these locations.