File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Six-hour closure planned for Coquihalla Highway

Jan 5, 2021 | 12:30 PM

One of the busiest highways in the B.C. Interior will be closed for several hours starting Tuesday night (Jan. 5).

Drive BC says the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope will be closed to allow avalanche control work to take place.

The closure is expected to begin at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday and last until 4:00 a.m. Wednesday.

Motorists are advised to use Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon as an alternative route.

The avalanche control, using explosives, is due to heavy snowfall over the last several weeks. It will remove any weak layers of snow and ice and reduce the overall depth of the snowpack, providing continued safe travel for people using the Coquihalla.

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The Coquihalla Summit has received over 70 centimetres of snowfall since Dec. 31, 2020, and more snow is expected through the end of this week.

Based on records dating back to 1986 when the highway opened, the current accumulations in the area are the third-deepest snowpack for this time of year. The current total accumulation to date is over 500 cms, which is 150 per cent of the average snowfall for this time of the year.

The ministry’s avalanche program is run by avalanche professionals who monitor weather and snowpack conditions continuously during the avalanche season. The program manages more than 60 avalanche areas that include almost 1,400 individual avalanche paths throughout the province.