Highway 20 west of the Sheep Creek Bridge will not reopen this weekend following Monday’s washout.
Regional Manager with the Ministry Of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Hubner says it is not for lack of effort of everyone’s part and that there are contractors working 24/7.
He says they, unfortunately, ran into an unforeseeable amount of ground water that they’re having to manage.
“Groundwater at this particular site is a real challenge given that a lot of materials at the embankment were originally built out of silty clays and silty sands, and when water is introduced to that material it really loses strength quickly and literally just flows.”
Hubner says the first step in rebuilding the embankment is to manage that water, and that once they’ve got that under control then they can proceed with the actual construction.
He says the detour via Soda Creek Road, Buckskin Road, West Fraser (South) Road, Chilcotin Meldrum Road to Hwy 20 remains in place and is functioning well.
“We recognize that we are approaching the (Williams Lake) Stampede and that’s a very special time of year for this area so we’re working with those special groups as well as the logging industry; we’ve just come out of breakup and we recognize that their mill inventories are quite low at this point. It’s a balancing act that we’re endeavoring to address here and it remains our goal to get this highway open as quickly as possible.”
Further information on Hwy 20 as well as the latest driving conditions across the province can be found online at DriveBC.
The next update on the Highway is not expected to be available until Friday, June 30.