The Duffey Lake Road section of Highway 99 reopened for essential travel Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after it was proactively shut down.
The provincial government closed the route between Pemberton an Lillooet at 4 p.m. on Tuesday due to saturated ground conditions and a third "atmospheric river" event that's currently battering southwest B.C. The closure comes following a series of mudslides that claimed the lives of five people on the Duffey last month.
Checkpoints will be in place to enforce the ongoing travel restrictions. Essential purposes include the transport of commercial or essential goods and supplies, transporting livestock or agricultural products, evacuating for medical reasons or returning to your principal residence. Oher essential purposes are spelled out in the Emergency Program Act.
With the highway's infrastructure still "vulnerable" following the string of recent storms, weight restrictions also remain in place for the route. "High volumes of commercial vehicles cannot be safely accommodated," the province explained in a release Wednesday. Regular passenger vehicles like cars, SUVs, vans and trucks under 14,500 kilograms are permissible.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will continue to monitor the weather and the performance of the highway. Motorists are warned that Highway 99 and other B.C. roads could close at any time should conditions change.
An evacuation order also remains in effect Wednesday afternoon for the Birken region of Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Area C due to landslide hazards.
The road from Birken to D’Arcy through the evacuation order area remains open for essential travel only. Traffic control points are in place.
