CHILLIWACK (NEWS 1130) – Expect major delays on Highway 1 between Bridal Falls and Hope until the weekend after several earlier mudslides have caused havoc.

Drive BC says the westbound lanes are now open to counterflow traffic. Heavy delays are still expected in the area.

The eastbound lanes are not expected to be opened until at least Sunday.

Highway 11 and Highway 7 are still alternate routes.

 

Geotechnical engineers have completed their detailed review of the area, located near Bridal Falls.

Maziar Kazemi, area manager with the Ministry of Transportation, says there were up to three slides. “We’re looking at three different sites. The largest site had about 500 cubic metres of debris and the other two sites we’re looking at about half that amount.”

Kazemi says a storm passed through that area prior to the slides. “With that came a lot of precipitation, higher than average temperatures and a lot of snowmelt — that definitely saturated some of the soil. [That’s] what we’re seeing here with some of the debris. We had our geo-technical engineers assess the site and they’ve given us the all clear to do the debris removal.”

SFU geophysicist John Clague says the highway is vulnerable because it’s so close to the mountainside. He adds slides like these are not only dangerous but costly. “I think some consideration ought to be given to improving the infrastucture, maybe to channelize or to bridge over areas where these flows repeatedly occur.”

He points out the channeling of streams and the installation of retention dams have greatly reduced slides along the Sea to Sky Highway in the Lions Bay area.

 

Meantime, the Transportation Safety Board confirms to NEWS 1130 that there was a train derailment south of Spuzzum because of a mudslide at around 1 a.m. No one was injured and the rail cars were empty at the time.