232696
233034

BC  

Tofino linked to world again, but delays remain on highway

Blast-closed hwy reopens

A section of Highway 4 reopened Saturday night after a rockfall spilled onto the roadway overnight Wednesday, cutting off Tofino and Ucluelet from the rest of Vancouver Island.

The province issued a traffic advisory at 8 p.m. saying all vehicles can now use the road, and that drivers should expect delays through Saturday night and this morning.

Crews began working at noon Saturday to install a prefabricated 20-metre bridge that will allow single-lane alternating traffic, including commercial vehicles, RVs and other larger vehicles.

The province said the location of the slide made work challenging, as the bridge was installed in a narrow space between Kennedy Lake and a rock bluff.

The highway had a limited opening Saturday between 8 a.m. and noon for passenger vehicles and light pick-up trucks only. Vehicles were screened at the Tofino/Ucluelet junction and at Sproat Lake, where larger vehicles were turned around. Commercial trucks and vehicles with campers or towing trailers were not let through.

Wednesday night’s blast was part of the $38.1-million Kennedy Hill Safety Improvement Project, which will make a 1.5-kilometre section of road on the hill wider and straighter. An unexpectedly large volume of rock from the blasting fell on rain-saturated ground, causing a portion of the shoulder and travelling surface to slough away, the Transportation Ministry said.

Regularly scheduled road closures to accommodate construction will resume tonight, the ministry said. 



More BC News