After month-long closure, Highway 97 reopens north of Summerland

The south Okanagan can now put the Highway 97 closure saga behind it.

After a series of rock slides closed the highway north of Summerland for more than a month, the province announced Tuesday morning that the highway was open for traffic again.

One southbound lane, however, will remain closed for the time being, as it is closest to the slope where the rock slides came down.

“This will allow ministry staff to monitor the slope for any additional movement as temperatures continue to warm,” the B.C. Ministry of Transportation said in a media release.

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Watch: Global Okanagan’s previous coverage of the Highway 97 rock slide closure north of Summerland.

1:31 Highway 97 reopening delayed by another week

• Highway 97 reopening delayed by another week
• The Transportation Ministry is targeting end of next week to fully re-open Highway 97 near Summerland after a rockslide came down at the beginning of February
• Penticton Chamber of Commerce calls for paved alternate highway route in wake of rockslide closure
• Price tag to repair Highway 97 near Summerland after rockslides came down pegged at $1 Million, possibly more
• Highway 97 Slide Update
• Highway 97 rockslide detour Callan Road work
• Setback in opening Highway 97 between Peachland and Summerland
• Highwa 97 rockslide detour: Taking the 201 Forest Service Road
• Ministry of Transportation says there’s a 50-50 chance of Highway 97 partially re-opening near Summerland Wednesday afternoon
• Landslide shuts down highway
• Southern Interior Executive Director of Transportation says it may be days before Highway 97 is reopened
• Okanagan residents react to multi-day closure of Highway 97
• Interview with Dan Ashton on road closure
• Highway 97 closure continues after rockslides
• Highway 97 rockslide near Summerland, B.C.

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The province said during the closure over “20,000 cubic metres of rock and debris were removed from the site,” and staff and contractors “worked continuously to assess the slope and remove material when it was safe to do so.”

The closure initially caused major disruptions, as the highway is the main link between the south and central Okanagan, and getting around the closure at first required a multi-hour detour through Princeton.

However, just over a week into the highway closure, a new detour route was constructed on Callan Road that ran next to the highway bypassing the slide site.

Highway 97 had been closed continuously since February 2.