Province considers adding Highway 1 barrier after vehicle enters river near Revelstoke

Transportation ministry aware of May 24 incident where driver ended up in Illecillewaet River

Province considers adding Highway 1 barrier after vehicle enters river near Revelstoke Published 1:43 pm Wednesday, July 15, 2026 The B.C. government is considering installing more roadside barriers along the Trans-Canada Highway east of Revelstoke following an incident where a motor vehicle ended up in the Illecillewaet River. On May 24, a man lost control of his vehicle and swerved off Highway 1 into the chilly river before managing to extricate himself.

The vehicle drifted downstream but came to rest fully submerged between Albert Canyon and the eastern access to Mount Revelstoke National Park — about two kilometres west of Apex Rafting’s launch site. Guides with the company first noticed the vehicle underwater on June 7, with Apex having not heard anything from the province while the Ministry of Environment and Revelstoke RCMP investigated the matter. The sunken vehicle hasn’t yet impacted Apex’s rafting runs due to high water levels, which have conversely prevented the driver, province and contractors from hauling the vehicle out of the Illecillewaet.

Ralph Koerber, owner-operator at Apex, told Black Press Media in June that removal might not happen until late August when river levels drop low enough. The Upper Columbia region had high snowpack levels by mid-June — 105 per cent above the annual average. However, Koerber recounted that this isn’t the first time a vehicle has entered the Illecillewaet around that same area.

He said a tractor-trailer drove off the Highway 1 embankment in the late 1990s, prompting RCMP and Apex to assist in the rescue. Asked whether the province will consider adding more barriers in that area, the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MOTT) told Black Press Media by email it’s aware of the latest May 24 incident. MOTT noted that most of this section of Highway 1 is already lined with concrete barriers protecting drivers from the river, but “while the exact location where the vehicle left the road is not known, there is a break in the barrier to allow access to the Cirraa pullout.”

That pullout is located approximately 30 kilometres from Revelstoke, about halfway along Highway 1 between the Giant Cedars Boardwalk and Canyon Hot Springs. “The ministry is reviewing the location to determine if installing additional concrete roadside barriers at the Cirraa pullout is warranted,” MOTT said. The Ministry of Environment and Parks told Black Press Media in June that provincial environmental emergency response officers have been monitoring the situation in the Illecillewaet while the vehicle remains submerged.