Slide activity has caused significant damage to the road.
Todd Hubner is the District Manager with the Ministry of Transportation…
“We’ve seen signs of movement that haven’t stopped since April. We’ve got segments of road within the failed area that have basically broken away and are now in the river and vegetation covers a significant amount of the failed portion as well from above and what not, it’s very wet.”
Hubner says it has made the soil conditions unsafe to work in…
“We refer to them as dilatant soils and although they may look firm on the surface basically they hold a lot of water and they’ve got limited shear strength, so any time you stand on them they may take your weight but the minute you have any vibration or movement those soils begin to shear.”
Hubner says they have decided to shift their focus onto French Road, which is the alternate route…
“In terms of adding some additional width and improving the surfacing gravel as well as brUshing the corridor out and improving the drainage so we’ve got a bit of work ahead of us in advance of winter that’s for sure.”
Hubner says the alternate route adds about 20 to 25 minutes to the commute of local residents.