Highway half-open following rock slide
Highway 97 north of Summerland expected to fully reopen at noon today
Highway 97 is expected to fully reopen at lunchtime today after Thursday night’s rock slide between Okanagan Lake Provincial Park and Summerland.
Friday morning, boulders and debris still obstructed two lanes of the four-lane highway on a short stretch two kilometres north of Summerland.
Two lanes were open — one in each direction — but motorists could expect delays.
Traffic controls were set up at both ends of the bottleneck, so motorists were advised to slow down when approaching the slide area, obey signs and drive carefully through the obstruction.
The slide happened around 8 p.m. Thursday.
Luckily, no cars were struck and no one was injured.
Most of the broken mountainside settled on the two southbound lanes of the highway and pushed concrete barriers onto the road.
Initially, one of the northbound lanes was used to accommodate slow-moving, alternating traffic in the dark.
With the two northbound lanes fully cleared and open Friday, there was a lane of traffic open northbound and southbound.
The boulders and debris were being left on the two southbound lanes as the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure had a geotechnical evaluation done to assess the cause and damage.
Once the site is deemed safe, the ministry will have a maintenance contractor remove the slide debris and the highway can fully reopen.
As of Friday evening, the ministry estimated the highway would reopen at noon today.
Drivers can check DriveBC.ca online or @DriveBC on Twitter for the most up-to-date information on the slide site and when the highway will actually be open to four lanes of traffic again.
The widened Highway 97 between Peachland and Summerland has been prone to slides.
The mountainside to the west is steep and can be unstable. That instability can be triggered by weather, such as swings in the temperature or lots of snow and rain.
There’s also a theory that mountain goats hanging out on the slope may be capable of triggering a slide.
The ministry reminds the public that “rock falls” are a natural event.
As such, it is constantly prioritizing and carrying out slope-stabilization projects to reduce potential rock and mud slides. Stabilization work typically includes rock scaling, slope meshing and rock blasting.
All such work has been done on the steep slope bordering Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland.