Temporary Road Connection In Place For Terrace

Thursday, June 07, 2007 03:29 PM

Trucks try to make their way through a flooded stretch of Highway 16 near Terrace

The Ministry of Transportation is trying to get people moving in to and out of Terrace. It has implemented scheduled one-way traffic, in alternating directions every two hours, on the Cranberry Connector route to move people and goods.

The Cranberry Connector is a four-hour detour route linking Terrace and Kitwanga via the Nisga’a Highway, the Cranberry Forest Service Road (a 55-kilometre, narrow logging road) and Highway 37.

Traffic is using the detour while Highway 16 remains closed between Kitwanga and Prince Rupert due to flooding.

48 km east of Terrace, the Highway is under 1.5 metres of water and that flood stretches for 1.2 kilometres.

West of Terrace, about 30 km west, the highway is under water for a 2 km stretch as the Skeena has broken through the train tracks, which had been acting as a dike.

North West of Terrace, 140 Km on the Nisga’a highway, the road is closed.

The water must recede from the highway before the ministry can assess what repairs may be needed.

The scheduled alternating format will eliminate traffic conflict on the Cranberry Forest Service Road and more safely accommodate the current heavier traffic volumes.

Don Ramsey the District Transportation Manager for the Ministry of Transportation says while the Cranberry Connector is available under a "use at your own risk" scenario, "It is not a road that I would recommend, but because of the nature of the problems, the Ministry has upgraded the road, and I am fully aware that goods and people are being moved through that area by using that road."

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