Avalanche danger keeps major B.C. highway closed

Trans-Canada reopens through Fraser Canyon

Last Updated: Friday, February 8, 2008 | 9:05 PM PT

CBC News

One major B.C. highway has been reopened after an avalanche, but another may remain closed all weekend because of the danger of slides.

B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said Friday the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt will remain closed.
(CBC)

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said Friday the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt can't be cleared for travel because of extreme weather.

"I apologize to the public and the trucking community for the inconvenience but we are not going to put lives at risk by opening it prematurely," Falcon said. "We are asking the public to utilize Highway 1 and Highway 3."

As soon as the weather clears, crews will work to control the avalanche risk, Falcon said.

Crews work to clear an avalanche that closed the Coquihalla Highway on Thursday.
(CBC)

"But at this point the Coquihalla from Hope to Merritt is going to remain closed, likely for the weekend."

The route was hit by an avalanche on Thursday and while the snow was cleared, crews haven't been able to do other avalanche control work along the highway.

Falcon said the Coquihalla received 50 centimetres of snow over a six-hour period, whipped up by 80-kilometre-an-hour winds.

On Friday, Steve Kromhoet was among drivers who said keeping B.C.'s Coquihalla Highway closed was the right thing to do.
(CBC)

Meanwhile, the Trans-Canada Highway is open again through the Fraser Canyon after a small slide was cleared north of Hope.

The closing of the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt meant that drivers had to take either Hwy 1 through the Fraser Canyon or Hwy 3 via Princeton.

But most people don't seem too bothered by the inconvenience.

"Oh I think it's a safe thing to do,'' said driver Steve Kromhoet. "I mean there's avalanches in the area, so definitely they have to take that into account, keep everybody safe.

"And we just we have to take different routes, there's still lots of routes to go down."