'It has been a long time coming': Road upgrades to Bamfield now complete

Upgrades along the 76-kilometre stretch of road connecting Bamfield to Port Alberni are now complete.

Upgrades along the 76-kilometre stretch of road connecting Bamfield to Port Alberni are now complete.

“It’s fantastic,” said Robert Dennis, former chief councillor of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations. “This has been a long time coming.”

Dennis was instrumental in getting the project off the ground.

“If you knew what a washboard was, that was pretty well what it was like all the way from Port Alberni to here,” said Dennis.

The road has been chip sealed. More than 200 culverts have been replaced or installed, preventing washouts. As well, guard rails have been installed along some of the more dangerous portions of the road, including the spot where a bus carrying a number of University of Victoria students on their way to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre careened off the road in 2019.

“Tragically, we lost two students to an accident on this road four years ago,” said Kevin Hall, president and vice chancellor of UVic.

“It didn’t come to full prominence until unfortunately the tragic accident with the bus,” said John Jack, chief councillor for the Huu-ay-aht First Nations.