If you’re planning on travelling between Alberta and B.C. on the Trans-Canada Highway, add some time to your journey.
Starting Monday, ongoing construction on the Kicking Horse Canyon project will ramp up, with multi-day, 24-hour closures occurring until Dec. 1.
According to B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation, the final phase of the project is complex and “traffic disruptions and full highway closures during certain times are necessary to safely carry out the heavy excavation and construction required.”
“Extended multi-day closures, like those in spring 2021, will take place this fall.”
Traffic stoppages in the canyon earlier this month included single-lane, alternating traffic, daytime and evening half-hour stoppages and overnight closures.
Now, with the highway about to be closed, traffic will be rerouted via highways 93 and 95.
The ministry says the rerouting will add 1.5 hours of travel time, and that roadsigns will provide advance notification of the closure.
The ministry has also set up a calendar as to when the highway will be closed and opened.
There will be exceptions to the closures where the canyon will be reopened to traffic:
Sept. 25-26
- The closure will be suspended, but shorter-duration stoppages and overnight closures may apply.
Thanksgiving holiday long weekend.
- The highway will be fully open day and night.
The Kicking Horse Canyon project will create 4.8 kilometres of four-lane road and involves other highway improvements. It’s also part of a Kamloops-to-Alberta four-lane program.
The provincial government says that the stretch of highway carries more than 10,000 vehicles daily during the summer.
For more about the Kicking Horse Canyon project, which is expected to be finished by the winter of 2023-24, visit the B.C. Ministry of Transportation website.
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