Hwy 97 rockslide cleaned up

Photo: Jon Manchester

A rockslide affected traffic south of Vernon on Highway 97 Thursday morning.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m.

Highway 97 just south of Vernon was fully reopened to four lanes Thursday afternoon, in the wake of an early morning rockslide.

Joe Wrobel with maintenance contractor JPW Roads & Bridge says the slide was a small one, that involved about 30 cubic metres of rock and earth. It came down into the ditch on the southbound side of the highway and across the slow lane, near the Kal Lake lookout.

Traffic was reduced to a single lane southbound while a Ministry of Transportation geotechnical crew assessed the site and gave the go-ahead for JPW crews to safely clean up and haul away the debris.

"The road was fully open by early afternoon," Wrobel said.

Early reports that a car may have been struck by falling debris remain unconfirmed.

ORIGINAL

Southbound traffic on Highway 97 was down to one lane this morning after a rockslide south of Vernon.

Large rocks became loose and fell down an embankment at about 7 a.m.

There are unconfirmed reports that a vehicle may have been struck by at least one of the rocks, but the extent of damage is unknown.

Traffic is expected to get back to normal later today.