By Cheryl Jahn

Push on to fix the Quesnel-Hixon Road

Aug 11, 2025 | 1:11 PM

NORTHERN BC – The Quesnel-Hixon Road has been closed to through traffic since 2021, and the Province made the decision to permanently close a 400-metre section of the road and take the Cottonwood River Canyon Bridge out of service. All because of a mudslide on the southwest side of the bridge.

Prince George-North Cariboo Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare has been actively pushing the government to replace that section and return a special route into service.

“It would frequently be used as an alternative route in the event that Highway 97 experiences weather situations or car accidents that shut down the highway. We’ve seen this over and over again. I myself have been affected by this, stopped by an accident and had to turn back. I think if some road was available, I could have easily just turned down there, and I would have been able to get to where I was going so well.”

A special lobby group has been formed specifically to fix that piece of road.

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“We were told up until last year that it would be fixed,” says Tamara Goyer, co-founder of the Quesnel-Hixon Road Restoration Association. “And then all of a sudden, they just posted on their online site that they wouldn’t be fixing it. We had over 1,200 signatures on paper petitions that were sent in to the Legislature by Sheldon Clare.”

Earlier this year, the Provincial and Federal Governments earmarked $1.2 billion for the Cariboo Road Recovery Program, and Clare says it’s time for government to loosen the purse strings. “While I appreciate the minister’s ability to try to find a little bit of money, there’s $1.2 billion that has been allocated to the care of recovery projects and it’s not all been spent yet. So let’s see a little bit more of it spent on these other things,” says Clare.