A section of Highway 97 in the Okanagan will remain closed for now until more is known about Monday’s large rockslide.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Transportation told Global News that assessments are ongoing, but that it’s too soon to say when the road will reopen to traffic.
Located just north of Summerland, the large slide has forced motorists travelling between Kelowna and Penticton to take lengthy detours.
Drone video of the slide taken by Global News shows large cracks in the rock cliff alongside the highway.
“An aerial assessment that was completed (Tuesday) actually identified a further risk of rockfall,” said Steve Sirett, executive director for the Southern Interior region.
“We’re seeing tension cracks up there around two to three metres wide, even up to five metres deep or over five metres deep. So, obviously, a significant concern for the safety of that highway.”
Sirett said monitoring equipment is being installed to help assess the slide area’s movement.
“That will determine what the level of risk is for further rockfall at the location,” he said. “This will also inform a detailed assessment of the slide, including remediation options to help mitigate the risk and allow us to reopen the highway to the public.”
Asked when Highway 97 will be reopened to traffic — even if it’s single-lane, alternating — Sirett didn’t know.
“It’s going to take several days to complete (the assessments), given the complexity and magnitude of it,” said Sirett. “So, at this time, there’s no estimate for when the highway may reopen.”
With no estimate, that means motorists will have to continue using alternate routes — Highways 97C, 5A, 3 or 33 — to travel between the Central Okanagan and the South Okanagan.
Those routes, though, add hours to the drive. However, Global News asked about forest service roads used when previous slides blocked Highway 97.
“As we speak, crews are on the 201 Forest Service Road, doing some grading and installing some directional signage,” said Sirett.
“That work is ongoing. We expect it to be complete by the end of (Thursday), at which time we’ll start advertising that route.”
He noted, though, that highways are the preferred detours, “and we really encourage motorists to continue to use those and allow crews to get the work done to allow (the 201 FSR) to function safely.”
The 201 Forest Service Road would be for motorists travelling from Kelowna to Penticton.
With the rockslide located between Peachland and Summerland, crews are also working on the Trout Main Forest Service Road to allow travel between those two communities.
“Our expectation, for now, is that commercial vehicles will continue to use the highway detours,” said Sirett.
He continued, saying the plan will stay in place “until we get a sense of the 201 (FSR) and how that’s functioning, and whether or not we feel that commercial vehicles can safely operate on there, along with the increased traffic we’re expecting to see from passenger vehicles.”
The rockslide is between Callan Road and Okanagan Lake Provincial Park. On Tuesday, the ministry said the slide left around 3,000 cubic metres of material on the road.
And just before 2 p.m., the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen issued an evacuation alert for four properties along North Beach Road. A map is available online.
This is the third time this year that slides have buried part of Highway 97 near Summerland.
In mid-May, part of a silt bluff south of Summerland, at Lakeshore Drive South, collapsed onto Highway 97. That slide was around 120 metres long.
Then, three weeks later on June 6, another landslide occurred near the same location.
Traffic was impacted for weeks by those slides, with the road finally being fully reopened on July 26.
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