Mud Still Sliding
Crews cleared one mudslide, only to have more debris and water sweep across Hwy 16 photo courtesy BCGov
Prince George, BC – Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure officials and Lakes District maintenance staff are on the scene of what's being called an 'active mudslide' on Highway 16 East at Tete Jaune Cache, where dirt, trees and debris have covered both lanes, and water is flowing across the road.
A portion of the hillside first slid onto the road at 3pm yesterday, closing the route entirely for approximately three hours. Crews were able to clear the debris and it was re-opened to single-lane alternating traffic just after 6pm.
However a second slide occurred at the same spot just before 11:30pm. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson, Lisanne Bowness, says, fortunately, there were no vehicles caught in the slide.
The mud and downed trees span approximately 20- to 30-metres of Highway 16, to a depth of two-metres at some points, and water is also flowing over the road, as a creek in the area has diverted from its normal channel.
Bowness says ministry operations and geo-technical staff are on site, along with equipment, working to stabilize the area and re-open the highway as soon as it can be determined safe to do so.
The revised location of the slide is one-kilometre east of the junction with Highway 5, not two, as previously reported.
The estimated time of opening is 12noon tomorrow.
The only routes through to the Alberta border via Prince George tag hours on to travel time – Highway 97N via the Pine Pass, or Highway 1.
For up to date information on an opening time, check www.drivebc.ca
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(revised 3:02pm)
Comments
Isn’t this in the same area where they had the slide last year?
There was a mudslide last year on this route, I think the same weekend, so we took the road that parallels the highway on the far side of the river and it takes you out at Dunster. Now if it is blocked east of the junction for Tete Jaune it would be more of a challenge, last year it was immediately west of the junction, so it was easy to link up with the secondary road. Good luck travellers.
If these slides were happening in the Okanagan or lower mainland they would be dealt with using millions of taxpayer dollars. Up here gets squat to deal with issues.
This slide location sounds like the same area as a massive slide about 20 years ago.
It would be difficult to do anything proactive to prevent future slides in this location, in my opinion.
metalman.
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