Motorists travelling Highway 97 between Kelowna and Penticton will have to endure at least one more week rockslide clearing, the Ministry of Transportation announced on Tuesday.
At the rockslide — which tumbled across part of the highway near Summerland on Feb. 2, blocking and affecting traffic since then — the ministry announced that it’s taking longer than expected to clear the debris. Last week, the ministry said it hoped to have the highway fully reopened to traffic this week.
Now, the ministry says it hopes to have Highway 97 open next week, but that crews are hauling away almost double the amount of dirt and rock it had predicted.
The ministry initially estimated the amount of slide debris to be between 4,000 and 6,000 cubic metres.
The ministry said slope monitoring has shown no new movement over the past 12 days, which has allowed excavators to break and pull down rock and hung-up debris.
Including slope material, the ministry said approximately 13,000 cubic metres of rock and dirt have been removed since the slide occurred.
By removing material and further exposing the slope, the ministry said additional surveying was done. The ministry is estimating that an additional 14,000 cubic metres needs to be removed, for a total of 27,000 cubic metres.
WATCH BELOW: (Aired Feb. 2, 2019) Dashcam video of the rockslide that blocked Highway 97 near Summerland, B.C.
“This amount of material is approximately three times more than originally estimated, as the back slope is much deeper than expected,” said the ministry.
“Because of the added material, we are now estimating that if there are no further challenges, like severe weather or slide movement, traffic will be restored to the highway early next week.”
When Highway 97 is reopened, the ministry’s plan is to have three lanes open (two northbound and one southbound) with one lane (southbound) closed.
The Callan Road detour will continue to operate 24 hours a day, with occasional stoppages if further blasting is required. The speed limit through the detour is 30 km/h, and pedestrians and cyclists are not permitted on the detour. Commercial vehicles that exceed 3.8 metres in width can only use the detour between midnight and 5 a.m.
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