Temporary lane alongside Highway 16, 26km east of Tete Jaune Cache on Tuesday

Prince George, BC – June’s wet weather has taken its toll on Highway 16, east of Prince George…

Motorists heading out of Prince George en route to Jasper yesterday encountered single-lane, alternating traffic 23-kilometres east of Slim Creek.  (Check www.drivebc.ca for updates this morning)

One traveler reported lengthy line ups in both directions, as the highway maintenance contractor continues to repair the westbound shoulder of the route that started to sluff away as a result of the recent rainfall. (photo at right courtesy of TransBC_FtGeorge)

Lakes District Maintenance Ltd. crews have been working overtime to keep the route open.  Last Sunday, flooding and mudslides completely closed highway 16 in two locations – 26-kilometres east of the junction with Highway 5 at Tete Jaune Cache, and eight-kilometres west of the junction.

By Monday, both stretches were open to single-lane, alternating traffic. 

The photo at left gives a sense of the massive undertaking highays crews faced – it was taken from the temporary lane alongside the highway at the damage site, east of Tete Jaune Cache, near Mount Robson provincial park on Tuesday.

The water shown was pooled on top of both lanes of the highway.

To the west of the junction, traffic was not being affected by Tuesday as clean up efforts continued following the weekend mudslide at that spot. 

Photo at right shows a fast-flowing stream making its way down to the highway on the northside.

Sunday’s slide came one week, and one-kilometre away from a slide on June 17th that also closed the highway for most of the day.

Fortunately, the weather has been as wet to the north of Prince George, where crews continue to repair damage done to Highway 97 in the Pine Pass by a major rain event one year ago.  The three-day downpour resulted in multiple mudslides and wash-outs that closed the highway for nine days.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says minor work is ongoing at various sites in the Pine Pass with minimal traffic disruptions.  Spokesperson Jeff Knight says there is one major culvert installation left to be done and that work will be tendered in the coming week.

The weather is being blamed for delaying highway work right in the City of Prince George.  Re-paving of the intersections of Highway 16 and 97 was to have wrapped up this past week. 

"Due to the traffic volumes at this intersection, paving needs to occur during overnight periods," says Knight.  "With the (sic) long weekend, we are going to delay paving to minimize delays during this busy period.  The traffic engineers have developed the project to minimize delays to the public and we plan to begin paving next week after the long weekend and weather permitting."