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Reconnecting Roads After Massive Flooding

MoTI main image of bridge

Reconnecting Roads after Massive Flooding

Challenge

A catastrophic weather event destroyed roads and cut off British Columbia$$s lower mainland, including Vancouver, from the rest of Canada.

Solution

British Columbia$$s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure $($MoTI$)$ used a project management approach based on A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge $($PMBOK$$ Guide$)$ to prioritize repairs and reopen critical routes as quickly as possible. This included:

Identifying critical paths.

Creating a work breakdown structure.

Implementing communication protocols.

Risk assessment.

Management of contributors and interested parties.

Outcomes

Highway $5,$ the principal corridor for transportation of goods to and from the port of Vancouver, was reopened to commercial traffic in $35$ days.

In November $2021,$ a unique weather event called an atmospheric river flowed across the province of British Columbia, Canada, leaving devastation in its wake. A near$-$record amount of rain caused severe flooding, landslides, and bridge collapses, and eventually forced every major connection between the lower mainland and the interior of British Columbia to close.

Towns were completely cut off, travelers were left stranded and unable to get home, and an already struggling supply chain was further crippled because no commercial traffic $$ including rail and truck traffic from the nation$$s largest port, the Port of Vancouver $$ could move through the province.

Ultimately, the responsibility of getting British Columbia$$s roads up and running again fell to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure $($MoTI$).$ It was a challenge like nothing the organization had ever seen.

Headshot of Jennifer Frasier

Jennifer Fraser, executive project director, Highway Reinstatement Program, MoTI

$$The scale of destruction that we faced and the work ahead of us $$ to be able to reconnect people to jobs, to be able to reconnect our supply chains, to be able to allow people to go about their lives again $$ was immense,$$ said Jennifer Fraser, executive project director, Highway Reinstatement Program, MoTI. $$Once we got over the shock and awe of the incredible damage that happened in British Columbia, we very quickly shifted gears and recognized that we needed to make a plan for how we were going to reopen at least one critical linkage.$$

The team decided to work to reopen Highway $5$ first. The $186-$kilometer $(116-$mile$)$ stretch of north$-$south road, also known as the Coquihalla Highway, serves as the backbone of the province$$s economy. It is the principal corridor that moves goods from the coast into the interior and from the rest of Canada back into the Port of Vancouver. It serves the $2\mathrm{.}5$ million people that live in the Lower Mainland and accommodates $5,000$ commercial vehicles and approximately CAD$$250$ million goods moved on any given day.

$$Highway $5$ is that critical linkage between the interior and the coast,$$ said Fraser. $$Not having Highway $5$ meant that grocery store shelves were bare in towns.$$

At the same time, Highway $5$ serves as the link between British Columbia and the rest of Canada. Reopening this essential roadway would be a significant step in getting the province and its people back on their feet. But to make it happen, the MoTI would have to change how they typically approach these projects.

$$For the first time, we took a project management approach and adapted it to that emergency response,$$ said Fraser. $$In the past, we would approach emergency repairs not so much as a project, but just as part of our operations.$$

Headshot of Maike Schimpf

Maike Schimpf, PMP$,$ former Highway $5$ corridor director, MoTI

Once the project team $$ led by Maike Schimpf, PMP$,$ former Highway $5$ corridor director, MoTI, and Kevin Weicker, engineering director for capital projects, MOTI $$ set their sights on Highway $5,$ their goal was to get it up and running as quickly as possible. And while they purposefully never made promises to the public, the team was able to open the road to commercial traffic just $35$ days after the atmospheric river event occurred.

Taking the Project Management Route

To make such a tight time line possible, the team decided it was necessary to use a project management approach.

$$Once an aggressive time line became the mission, we had to prioritize schedule over everything,$$ said Fraser. $$And we had to take full responsibility and full accountability to do whatever it takes to make that happen.$$

This differed from MoTI$$s usual approach to emergencies, in which the team would have worked through the devastation by moving from washout to washout or debris pile to debris pile, and individually planning when they got there to clean it up$.$

$$Had we not said, $$the Coquihalla is a project, and we need to unite around the schedule,$$ it would not have had the same l