Anyone travelling between the South and Central Okanagan will be happy to hear that there are no closures planned for the Easter long weekend.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Transportation of Infrastructure (MoTI) said Highway 97 will remain fully open north of Summerland.
No blasting work was scheduled at the landslide slide in an effort to support increased travel through the area over the holiday, the ministry says in a release
That means no closures will be happening between through Monday, April 1.
Slope mitigation work has been ongoing, causing temporary closures between Callan Road and Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, since last August.
The closures allow work crews to perform blasting and rock scaling work to remove unstable material from the slope adjacent to the highway.
However, according to the release from the ministry, that work will soon be transitioning to a “stabilization phase.”
“This work will result in fewer blasts required through the spring. Closure times are likely to reduce, with fewer closures longer than 20 minutes,” the release says.
“Longer spring closures will be scheduled in advance whenever possible to cause less disruption and allow travellers time for planning.”
Highway 97 is expected to continue supporting two lanes of traffic, however.
Since August, more than 40,000 cubic metres of material have been removed for the slope.
BC’s MoTI anticipated another 60,000 cubic metres would still need to be removed.
