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Yesterday we got stuck right behind the road closure 15km outside of Merritt northbound on Hwy 5.
Slowly traffic inched up every 30-40 mins, a few cars at a time but there was no substantial movement and Drive BC was reporting that the road was closed until at least 10pm.
Needing to fuel up in Merritt before heading in to Kelowna, I was concerned about running out of gas having to head back to Hope and re route via Hope Princeton. We would not make it on 100km of fuel.
Maps of my iPhone showed me a detour route on Coldwater Road that would take us into Merritt.
It also showed that if we could get about 1km from where we were stopped behind the accident we could get on the southbound side and make it back to Coldwater Road.
So like many others we drove up the shoulder and made it to a gap (a unofficial turn around) and headed back south bound to Coldwater Road. To our dismay, highways was blocking the road saying it was closed. Unofficial reports said that the Band did not want increased traffic along the road due to the Coquihalla closure, so they told people to go back to Hope.
My gas light was now on and so we sat waiting for BCAA because we didn't want to chance no cell service and running out of gas.
We sat for 2 hours and during this time a few cars would be let thru and then finally they decided to let 5 cars every 10 minutes thru.
The road is a normal single lane paved road and is a public road that runs along the Band.
We sat unnecessarily for 1.5 hours because someone decided they didn't want traffic on a public road. I am absolutely disgusted at how this became a political issue and affected the lives of many stranded travels when it was absolutely unnecessary to close the road.
The road was completely bare and there was no other reason why it would have been closed.
Travellers should be aware of this alternate route in the event of other closures in the future and should avoid unnecessary being stranded in the cold on the Coquihalla.
Also, always fill up in Hope!
Cathy Vigar
