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Highway 1 closing between Easter and Victoria Day weekends
Crews have made steady progress on Highway 1 improvements through the Kicking Horse Canyon.
To advance work at more challenging sites within the project, a full highway closure is required between the Easter and Victoria Day weekends.
From noon Tuesday, April 19 to noon Friday, May 20, all through traffic on Highway 1 from Golden to Castle Junction will be routed south via Highway 93 to Radium Hot Springs and north up Highway 95 to Golden. This will add as much as 1.5 hours of travel time.
Roadside signs will provide advance notification of the closure and there will also be signs on the alternative routes. Drivers are advised to use caution and watch for wildlife, school children and school buses while travelling the alternative routes.
The construction zone will be opened briefly to limited local/commuter traffic with prearranged permits twice daily, escorted by a pilot vehicle during half-hour periods beginning at 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Similar escorts will be provided for school buses to ensure students have uninterrupted access to school. Emergency vehicles in response mode will be provided escorted passage on short notice.
This closure will allow crews to proceed with work that cannot be carried out safely during shorter interruptions, such as construction on and adjacent to the existing highway, which includes the placement of heavy equipment on the roadway.
Progress to date includes installing girders on three bridge and viaduct structures near the eastern end of the project, completing a major rock cut, and installing approximately 200 piles that will support walls and bridges for the improved highway.
When completed in winter 2023-24, this 4.8-kilometre section of narrow, winding two-lane road will be converted to a modern four-lane standard, making a safer, more reliable route for people travelling through the Kicking Horse Canyon.
The closure is part of a traffic-management strategy developed in consultation with the community and key stakeholders. This strategy is designed to minimize travel disruptions during the peak summer and winter travel periods by having as much work as possible done at night and other off-peak periods.
The ministry appreciates people’s patience as this work is carried out. Drivers are reminded to obey construction zone speed limits and the directions of traffic personnel.
Updates on delays will be available online: DriveBC.ca
For more information on this project, visit: www.kickinghorsecanyon.ca
e-KNOW file photo
e-KNOW
