Coquihalla Closure

[Glacier]

February 20, 2014 03:30 pm

The Coquihalla highway has been closed indefinitely because of a massive avalanche near the snow shed.

Chilliwack Search and Rescue’s Doug Fraser “We’ve got a class 4 avalanche that’s come down onto the highway. As far as I know, no vehicles have been impacted and Ministry of Transportation has Hope Search and Rescue and Chilliwack Search and Rescue on standby, in case there’s a further incident while they are escorting vehicles down off of the highway.”

Reporter: “Where did this slide come down?”

Fraser: “I don’t know its exact location, it’s in the vicinty of the snowshed.”

Reporter “You mentioned it’s a class 4, what is a class 4 avalanche?”

Fraser: “It’s a massive avalanche…the power from that would destroy houses.”

The highway is closed in both directions no word when it could reopen.

Highway 5 Both directions - Closed in both directions from Exit 183, Othello Road to Merritt (88.3 km) because of High Avalanche Hazard. Alternate route is available via Highway 1 and Highway 8 or Highway 3 to the Okanagan. Estimated time of opening currently not available; assessment in progress. Next update by 9:00 pm. Updated on Thu Feb 20 at 5:06 pm PST.

One thing that needs to be brought is why do they always recommend 1 and 8 as an alternative? Unless you live in Kelowna, you would never go this way. If you live in Kamloops, Vernon, etc. you are going to go hwy 1 and 97. Have the people at the Ministry of Transportation ever driven hwy 8?

[StraitTalk]

I was wondering that also. My only guess is weight restrictions for transportation trucks and perhaps the safety/likelihood of closure of those routes.

It's frustrating to see the Ministry reacting to this amount of snow over a short period of time as opposed to pro-actively addressing it. I'm sure the technicians did everything in their power with the resources they have, but I don't believe we have adequate resources. A lot of people fail to realize that we narrowly avoided a tragedy with this slide happening in the middle of the night and not hitting anyone - and I am willing to bet that warnings from the forecasters (not meteorologists, but Avalanche Forecasters) were ignored to some extent here.

edit: To expand on this, the warning signs have been very clear over the past week. We've seen a tremendous amount of snow fall on the region, there is a very worrisome persistent surface hoar layer sitting underneath all of it, thanks to clear and cold nights in February. Many of these slide paths along the corridor are sheltered from sun and wind which means these surface hoar layers are increasingly dangerous. A special bulletin was released for this weekend, and we've seen two size 4's in a weeks time now. The cost of adding manpower and resources to handle these kinds of storms even when they aren't always being utilized is monumentally less expensive than the cost of these closures on our economy.

[Glacier]

Highway 8 is very small and windy compared to hwy 1 and 97. Having the Coq shut down for a few days isn't really a big deal. It's only an extra hour to take hwy 1 from Kamloops down, and anyone heading to more eastern sections of Canada goes through the States this time of year anyway.

That said, it's too bad that they put all the lanes on the same side of the valley. I-90 in Washington put the lanes far enough apart that if an avalanche hits one section of road, the other section is still good.

[Wally]

Im pretty sure the avalanches are Christy Clark and the B.C. liberals fault. I blame them.

[matai]

It probably explains why it took a full week for a letter to get to Vancouver from Kelowna this week! Rerouted through Russia the other way around.

[prairieflower]

Oh look, another accident on the Coq today, within 24 hours after it is opened. IMO unless you are a trucker and need to drive materials through, AND know how to drive in winter conditions, you should NOT be on this highway in any type of vehicle. There are buses, planes etc to take you down to the coast if you have important reasons to get there. There is the internet, Skype, etc to talk to people/family until this weather goes east and the highways are really looked after. This is the first time in 28 yrs this highway has been this bad....STAY OFF IT and if you cannot, please DRIVE FOR THE CONDITIONS!!!!! before someone innocent dies.

[MattJ]

Oh look, another accident on the Coq today, within 24 hours after it is opened. IMO unless you are a trucker and need to drive materials through, AND know how to drive in winter conditions, you should NOT be on this highway in any type of vehicle. There are buses, planes etc to take you down to the coast if you have important reasons to get there. There is the internet, Skype, etc to talk to people/family until this weather goes east and the highways are really looked after. This is the first time in 28 yrs this highway has been this bad....STAY OFF IT and if you cannot, please DRIVE FOR THE CONDITIONS!!!!! before someone innocent dies.

Notice the pictures were taken from the driver's seat as well. Obviously the highway isn't that bad if the driver can take pictures at the same time.