Avalanche control activity will close Coquihalla overnight

Photo: DriveBC

Planned avalanche control activity will shut down a section of the Coquihalla Highway starting Tuesday night.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m.

The provincial government says the Coquihalla Summit has received more than 70 centimetres of snowfall since New Year’s Eve.

Avalanche control activity on Highway 5 between Hope and Merritt will require the highway to be closed between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday.

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 cm, which is 150 per cent of the average snowfall for this time of the year.

B.C.’s avalanche-monitoring program manages 60 areas throughout B.C. and 1,400 individual avalanche paths.

ORIGINAL 10:15 a.m.

A planned closure will shut down the Coquihalla Highway Tuesday night between Hope and Merritt.

DriveBC says the closure is due to avalanche control activity between exit 183 at Peers Creek Rd., 6 km north of Hope, and exit 286, 1 km south of Merritt.

This section of the Coquihalla will be closed from 10:00 p.m. on Jan 5 to 4:00 a.m. on Jan 6.

DriveBC recommends drivers use Highway 1 or Highway 3 as alternate routes.