The Crowsnest Hwy 3 will not reopen to non-essential traffic before Christmas, dashing hopes of those who had hoped to travel between the Interior and the Lower Mainland for the holidays.
The opening of Hwy 3 to general traffic will be tied to the opening of the Coquihalla Hwy 5 for commercial truck traffic. Until such time Hwy 3, as the only main supply chain route, must retain its essential traffic restriction the province says.
Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure made the announcement in an update on Nov. 9 where he said progress on the Coquihalla repairs is moving faster than expected.
“I want to drag people’s attention to how hard crews have been working to get the Coquihalla reopened. We are throwing everything we have at it because we know how important it is to connect the lower mainland to the interior.”
He said the round the clock efforts have made “tremendous progress and as I previously stated that the Coquihalla was on track to reopen to commercial traffic by the end of January but based on the exceptional progress made to date and the favourable weather to date continues to maintain this pace, we are confident that it could open instead, in early January.
Repairs of the Coquihalla Hwy 5 are progressing faster than expected and could see the highway open earlier than expected.
He added this was “remarkable given the scale of the damage on the coq and it’s a testament to the skill and dedication of everyone who’s involved in this tremendous effort.”
But Flemming underscores that until the Coquihalla can reopen to commercial traffic with temporary repairs, “we must leave Hwy 3 available primarily for semi-trailer trucks moving essential goods.
“With upwards of 3000 trucks a day now on those steep grades and tight curves it would be dangerous mixing leisure traffic in with convoys of trucks,” he added.
He also noted that over 15,000 trucks have made it to the interior via Hwy 3 and through Northern Washington. “We’re keeping store shelves full and people employed,” he added.
A new detailed map of the Hope-Princeton section of Hwy 3 shows the dangerous parts of the road.
The complications of ongoing weather events such as this weekend, repair work and large movements of trucks were evidenced on Saturday when downed power lines closed the road followed by a “vehicle recovery” Sunday noon followed by a collision involving two semi-trailers and a third in the ditch not even two hours later.
That incident shut down Hwy 3 between Princeton and Manning Park for over five hours, according to DriveBC.
Meanwhile, the eastbound lanes of Hwy 1 are open in the Bridal Falls area, fully reopening the highway with two lanes in each direction between Abbotsford and Hope from 7 Dec.
Two lanes of separated traffic in each direction provide better traffic flow and connectivity between the Lower Mainland to Hwy 3 and the Interior, B.C. Transport said.
