Highway 4 to fully reopen Thursday following wildfire closures

The only highway connecting Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet with the rest of Vancouver Island is set to open to two-way traffic Thursday at 5 p.m. after nearly three months of closures.

Mid-Island Pacific Rim MLA Josie Osborne first announced the reopening timeline in a social media post Thursday, calling it "the news we've been waiting for in the Alberni Valley and the West Coast."

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure later confirmed the news in a statement thanking workers and the public for their patience during repeated delays in restoring the vital travel corridor.

The highway was closed by a wildfire east of Port Alberni on June 6 and crews have been working to stabilize rock faces along the corridor since.

Workers have removed hundreds of dangerous trees and a thousand tonnes of rock debris from the area, according to the transportation ministry.

The province planned to fully reopen the highway to two-way traffic in mid-August but rain and high winds continuously delayed the work along the seven-kilometre closure area next to Cameron Lake.

A four-hour detour route was established along gravel logging roads between Lake Cowichan and Port Alberni through the Bamfield area.

"It's been a very challenging summer for everyone, and so many people have worked tirelessly to fight the wildfire that started this all, to establish a detour and help keep supply chains and essential travel open, and to undertake complex and dangerous recovery work " Osborne said in a Facebook post.

Highway 4 has been plagued by prolonged construction delays for years, prompting calls for the province to establish a permanent alternative route to the Port Alberni area.

"We know there are questions about the fall – particularly the potential impacts of stormy fall weather – and more information will be coming from the Ministry of Transportation in the coming weeks," Osborne said.

Workers perform rock-scaling work near the site of the Cameron Bluffs wildfire. (B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure)

Farther west, the province began upgrading the highway at nearby Kennedy Lake in April 2018 with a planned budget of $38 million and an expected completion date in summer 2020.

A rockslide in January 2020 halted construction and cut off all access to Tofino and Ucluelet for a weekend.

Two-way traffic finally resumed through the site this past March, with a final construction budget of approximately $54 million.