the work on GJ was top notch and am quite surprised it didn't handle the storm. Was there much damage?
Well, it's not destroyed and some of the major armoring and new infrastructure/routing held up. Main failures were the two key french drains. I think too much rock, so they run out of capacity too quickly. This could be aided by larger pipe size, but may increase flow rates.
I agree, it was major work that was well done, but way above normal flow-rates certainly put it to a test and it didn't hold. The first tact is upstream flows. If those can be better mitigated there may be hope.
That said, a small devil speaking in my left ear always reminds me that it was a poorly routed trail from the outset at the first rebuild (I agree it had to get off the hydro ROW) - the case of not being designed by people who intimately know the trails and geography despite credentials. It speaks to the need for truly local input in siting trails in all areas. The "new" GJ built in approx 2010 (to pull it off the old straight-shot alignment) has a huge history of crossing seepages, drainage channels, etc, just by virtue of its meandering path and large amount of water and springs on that side of the mountain. Burnaby has quite a work record for drainage issues on GJ prior to the recent problems. Part of me says it should just be shut down and a new "flow" trail constructed on the south face of the mountain adding to the Snake/Nicole's network that ties to the new climbing trails Burnaby is adding along Gaglardi. There's also a great long flowing alignment down the west side along the new waterline right of way, unfortunatley you'd have to cross the ring road above Gaglardi to give it the distance you'd want. Then you tie back over to the west side TCT to return to the top through the park where the rose garden is.