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- Monday - March 31, 2025 - Othello Road improvements on the way
Monday - March 31, 2025 - Othello Road improvements on the way
Grace Kennedy
March 31, 2025
⛈ High 12C | Local forecast
Good morning!
Oh man, last week was a doozy. I started off by frantically finishing our election hubs after the federal election call last Sunday. It was a lot of work, but you guys deserve to have up to date election information when you need it. Then I spent a day pounding out our massive story on the Hudson’s Bay Company history in Langley—which turned out so long that you are actually getting the second part this morning. Then on Friday, Tyler and I put together a special video chat for our members (find that here). I also got to talk with science journalist and newsletter-writer extraordinaire Flora Graham, who puts together Nature Briefing each day, as well as interview UFV researcher Madison Pesowski about ideas of ownership among kids.
I’m ready for a few slower days (and my upcoming long-scheduled vacation). But it’s also great to be reminded how interesting and varied our work at The Current really is—and how much fun it can be to dive into all the wildly different stories the Fraser Valley has to offer.
– Grace
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News
The death of The Bay
This modern reconstruction of the Hudson’s Bay Company outpost in Fort Langley captures the fort that even visitors in the 1800s found old-fashioned. 📷 Daniel Avram/Shutterstock
Even in the 1800s, Fort Langley seemed like a relic.
During the gold rush, the fort had become an important retail outpost for prospectors and miners, providing men with blankets, pots, pickaxes, flour, bacon, beans, molasses, and dried salmon. But even then, with thousands of men passing through the fort’s storefront, the Hudson’s Bay Company had become associated with quaint, old-fashioned, and out-of-touch practices.
“Inside this trading warehouse there is a look of venerable antiquity that would be difficult to match in any other portion of the world today,” the editor of the Alta California wrote in his newspaper about a recent trip to Fort Langley. “Everything else about the establishment is in keeping with this, and business is transacted exactly as it used to be in the quaint old towns of the thriving Knickerbockers and early tradespeople of staid New England.”
He continued with a description of how HBC employees packaged a bottle of whiskey, carefully corking the bottle and then tying a string around its neck and wrapping it in paper.
“It is to such customs that the Young American applies the expressive title of ‘old fogyism.’”
That “old fogyism”—combined with the establishment of the Colony of British Columbia—heralded the beginning of HBC’s decline in the Langley area.
Related
Need to Know
🚔 Two people were arrested after stealing a bait car in Abbotsford and going through a McDonald’s drive-thru [Abbotsford News]
🎬 TV crews will descend on Agassiz’s Pioneer Avenue today and tomorrow [Agassiz Harrison Observer]
⛔ The emergency room at Mission Memorial Hospital was closed both Saturday and Sunday evening [Mission Record]
🌷 Cold weather has delayed the opening of the Abbotsford Tulip Festival [Abbotsford News]
🚤 Stave Lake boat launch is set to close until June [Mission Record]
🔨 The Yale Historic Site has finished its renovations in time for the 2025 tourist season [Hope Standard]
🚒 A semi-truck flipped and caught fire on Highway 1 in Abbotsford last Thursday [Abbotsford News]
🏆 Ruby Creek Art Gallery has been recognized by Indigenous Tourism BC for its commitment to protect Indigenous art [Hope Standard]
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🗳 Election 2025
The federal election campaign continues until election day on Monday, April 28. Advance voting will take place over the Easter weekend, from Friday April 18 to Monday, April 21. Find everything you need to know—including where to vote—by visiting one of our local election hubs:
The latest
👉 The Liberals have named candidates for the ridings of Langley Township-Fraser Heights and Mission-Matsqui-Abbotsford [Langley Advance Times/Abbotsford News] | The party sent out an email Saturday to announce a candidate in Chilliwack-Hope, but have since revered course [Chilliwack Progress]
👉 Both Langley City and Langley Township are reminding residents about their rules around political sign placement [Langley Advance Times]
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The Agenda
Major construction was required along the Coquihalla River after the November 2021 atmospheric rivers. 📷 Province of British Columbia
Othello Road improvements expected to be completed by fall
The District of Hope is earmarking nearly $2 million to improve Othello Road, following the completion of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline.
It's seeking a contractor to carry out a four-pronged plan to remediate the road, which includes over 700 metres of curb installations and 10,000 square metres of asphalt paving. The project also includes culvert replacements and road realignment, among other improvements. The plan was designed by a Vancouver-based engineering firm, Wedler Engineering.
A section of the road—east of the Kawkawa Lake Road intersection—served as a major thoroughfare for pipeline construction, which finished last year.
Traffic related to the project increased the number of vehicles on the two-lane road that had already been deteriorating for years. Notably, in November 2021, three homes on Othello Road fell into the Coquihalla River after a series of atmospheric rivers washed away the roadway.
The risk of slope failure and sloughing in the corridor forced Trans-Mountain to come up with a final remediation plan—and interim design—to ensure safety on the road before construction began.
About 500 metres of Othello Road have been built following those design parameters, according to the district. The contractor is expected to be announced in April. The project is scheduled to be finished by the fall.
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🤝 Now hiring
• Social worker at Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children and Family Services Society in Langley
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🗓 Things to do
Live music: Steve Dawson and Fats Kaplan perform at Bozzini's Restaurant in Chilliwack on Thursday at 7:30pm. Details online.
Vaisakhi celebration: Abbotsford's Open Space hosts a Vaisakhi Celebration of South Asian Art from Thursday, April 3 to Thursday, April 17. An opening reception will be held this Thursday at 4pm. Details online.
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