A culvert collapse in Qualicum Beach last month cost $114,200 to fix.
Director of Engineering Bob Weir informed town council of extensive wear on Sept. 14 and updated them Oct. 27 as the work wrapped up.
"The culvert failure is causing the Village Way roadway to slough and the roadway and utilities are threatened," he said of an eight foot bank that fell away from the side of the road on the downstream end of the culvert carrying Beach Creek under Village Way at Hemsworth Road.
Crews worked on the steep bank through as much as 20 feet of backfill, in very close proximity to a buried telephone cable, in a fish bearing waterway.
A "fisheries environmental consultant" removed 75 coho fry and 20 cutthroat from the area at the start of work and Weir showed pictures of the completed work with a natural looking streambed emerging from the new culvert.
A contractor drove four huge steel piles into the bank to stabilize it and added a solid rock bed under the new culvert.
Weir had initially guessed the work would cost $50,000 to $70,000 but said that was a very preliminary estimate.
The work ended up costing $114,800, including $88,600 to the main contractor and $12,500 in engineering costs.