Beasley Bluffs get trim from highway improvement
By John Boivin Local Journalism Initiative
Driving from the west on Highway 3A into Nelson is going to be a pain again this summer — but at least the road will be a little safer as a result.
Preparation work has already begun on the $5.7 million project to build an overpass at South Slocan to replace the aging bridge there. The project is going to have a side benefit- cleaning up a dangerous stretch of the highway just west of Taghum.
Copcan Civil Ltd, a road construction firm out of Nanaimo, was awarded the project this week. They’ll begin work later in the spring and plan to finish by the end of September.
Emergency officials say they’re happy part of the plan will see 10,000 cubic metres of rock — about 550 dump-truck loads — removed from the Beasley Bluffs, a rock overhang and dangerous curve about eight kilometres to the east of the overpass site.
Taking out the finger of rock that the road curves around will improve sight lines, create clear zones and improve snow storage in the area.
“Anything they can do is a great improvement,” says Al Craft, who just retired as fire chief of the Beasley Fire Department. “It’s going to vastly improve sight lines by getting rid of a blind corner.”
Craft says his department responds to about three or four accidents along that stretch of road every year, mostly in the winter.
“It’s also bad this time of year (the spring), when animals are coming down the game trails on the bluffs,” says Craft. “You come around that curve and there’s an elk there, and you don’t see it in time. We get a lot of wildlife kills every year because of the pasture up above.”
Work crews have already started to remove logs from the bluffs in anticipation of the rock work beginning.
The work will require traffic controls on two spots on the road between Nelson and South Slocan — and is likely to make driving into the city a headache all summer. In 2016 paving work made the drive into town a practice in patience as well.
“It will be hectic for us,” says Craft. “Our firehall is located between both construction zones. But the flaggers are good and get us by when we need to respond.”
The road project will also see improvements to the rail-to-trail path from South Slocan to Pass Creek Road, with signage and paving of the stretch of trail.
The work will also include wider shoulders and improved intersection designs on adjacent roads.
