Scenic road pummelled by rock slide
A Lake Country road closed due to a rockslide was expected to re-open this afternoon.
Debris was being removed from Pelmewash Parkway on Thursday and a geotechnical engineer was onsite to assess the stability of the slope above the road.
“A rock catchment berm is being built today along the section of Pelmewash Parkway where the slide occurred, in order to provide further protection so the road can be opened Friday afternoon,” Lake Country spokeswoman Karen Miller wrote in an email Thursday afternoon.
Boulders and debris tumbled down onto the road, on the west side of Wood Lake, about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. Since the slide, the road was open for use only by emergency vehicles.
Two-lane Pelmewash Parkway was once part of Highway 97, but in recent years it has been converted to a municipal road that’s a popular biking and walking corridor.
At a Tuesday night meeting, town councillor Todd McKenzie had presciently warned his colleagues that many area residents were concerned about the number of rocks and boulders tumbling down from hillsides during this mild winter onto Pelmewash Parkway.
“When it goes from minus eight to plus eight, and you get that freezing-thawing-freezing, the rocks come down,” McKenzie said.
“It’s definitely something that has locals concerned and it’s something we should keep a closer eye on because there’s a whole lot of people thinking that somebody’s going to get hurt,” he said.