The Canadian federal and British Columbia state governments have promised C$13.5m to rebuild a network of historic timber railway trestles burned by wildfire last year.
The Kelowna fire burned 12 of the 16 trestles, built between 1910-1916, which bridged chasms on the Kettle Valley Railway.
The wooden trestles, up to 48m high and 110m in length, were regarded as some of the best examples in the world. Because the new bridges will not need to carry locomotives, the load capacities will be less and fewer timbers will be required.
Following their original construction, the trestles were known as “McCulloch’s Wonder”, after the chief engineer on the project Andrew McCulloch.
Rebuilding work will start this autumn and is expected to take three years.
