Canadian Railroads > CPKC Tank Hill Grade Separation

A recent trip through the Thompson River Canyon in southwestern British Columbia yielded some views of progress on the Tank Hill grade separation project under construction by the BC Ministry of Transportation.  Tank Hill is located 7 rail miles east of the town of Lytton, BC near MP 87 of the CP Thompson Subdivision.  Prior to the catastrophic washouts during storms in November of 2021, the CP Thompson Sub mainline crossed over the Trans-Canada highway here with a short steel deck bridge span, and then a small creek to the east with a fill over a culvert.  After runoff from the storms washed out the culvert and much of the hillside at the highway underpass, emergency construction crews worked to quickly build a concrete bridge structure for the railroad over the creek, and a temporary at grade crossing for the highway.  That was the status quo for the past two years.

The first of what appears to be four concrete piers for a new highway overpass of the railroad has been poured, with piling for two more underway.  Updates on the BC Government webpage (linked below) show an artists rendering of what will be a long highway flyover which will eliminate the at grade crossing, and a prior 'S' bend in the highway, which will rejoin the existing highway alignment much forther to the east.  Initial estimates on the project page by the BC Government indicate a partial opening of the new highway section in December of this year.

1. A view travelling east on the highway, approaching the temporary grade crossing, with a view of the first pier of the new highway flyover.

2.  A close up of the pier, while heading west.

3. A view of the canyon, and grade crossing, looking east from the shoulder of the highway grade.  At left is a CN tank train on their Ashcroft Sub.

Previous TO thread on the temporary crossing:
[url=http://​https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,5400826,5400826#msg-5400826]​https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,5400826,5400826#msg-5400826[/url]

BC Government Project Page:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/bc-highway-flood-recovery/2021-flood-road-recovery-projects-highway-1-fraser-canyon/tank-hill

 

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That was an incredible amount of damage from the storm, the artists conception drawing looks like they will make way under the railroad but make the roadway part of the drainage. Must be something special above that canyon.

The photo from The Globe in the linked post suggeests how much material was washed away. Really something to see the pilings that are usually underground. Good that the old Transcon is still in business though, amazing scenery and history.
t4p.

I was actually through there twice yesterday.  Just a slight correction though, the concrete bridge structure for the railway was built after the fact.  The emergency repair involved a fill and culvert for the railway as well as the highway.

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greasemonkey Wrote:
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> I was actually through there twice yesterday.
>  Just a slight correction though, the concrete
> bridge structure for the railway was built after
> the fact.  The emergency repair involved a fill
> and culvert for the railway as well as the
> highway.

Thank you!  I had missed that intermediate period.

Honestly it's an incredible amount of effort going into something that, as someone not from the area, I genuinely had no idea as to the scope of the damage and just treated the one-way traffic on the Trans Canada as making the canyon between Lytton and Spences Bridge a no-go zone for railfanning both times I went last year. Super impressed as to their speed and am looking forward to seeing the project completed.

-Kacey