Rockslide cleanup on 97 passes the halfway mark
Workers have now dug past the halfway point on a massive project to clean up a rockslide that has eliminated two lanes of travel on Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland for nearly seven months now.
The highway through the work zone about eight kilometres north of Summerland has been reduced to a single lane in each direction since last summer, following an Aug. 28 rockslide.
A massive dirt berm now occupies the two northbound lanes. It’s supporting an unstable rock face while it’s blasted to pieces and hauled by trucks to a government quarry near Summerland.
An estimated 60,000 cubic metres of material – enough to fill approximately 24 Olympic-sized swimming pools – needs to be removed, according to the B.C. Transportation Ministry.
“As of the end of February, approximately 35,500 cubic metres of rock and overburden had been removed from the site,” the ministry said in a statement this week.
“The ministry is developing a plan for long-term stabilization measures and anticipates that more information about upcoming work, including a spring schedule, will be available later in March.”
Until then, drivers can expect to encounter several 90-minute closures each week for blasting work, including one scheduled for today from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
And there’s still no timeline for completion.
“At this point it’s months, not weeks, is all I can share,” said Erik Lachmuth, district manager for the B.C. Transportation Ministry, during a presentation Feb. 8 to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
“We are absolutely putting in every effort to make sure that this gets done, but we can’t just do a quick Band-Aid fix and go away from it. We don’t want to be back here in this situation again.”
There are two detours in place that are being maintained through winter to accommodate traffic during closures of the work site.
The main alternate route is via the 201 Forest Service Road and Highway 33, which will add about 90 minutes to what is normally a one-hour trip between Penticton and Kelowna.
The second detour is intended for more local travel and connects Summerland and Peachland via the Trout Creek Forest Service Road.
Commercial vehicles over 14,600 kilograms are required to use longer detours via Highway 3.