It’s fantastic news for those travelling between the Central Okanagan and South Okanagan.
After four days of hard work, the Callan Road detour around the Hwy 97 rockslide site is now open to the public.
Crews worked 20 hours a day, in two 10 hour shifts, since Thursday in order to get the new route ready for the Monday morning commute.
The 900-metre detour will provide light vehicles and commercial vehicles with a safe, quick detour around the slide site.
The speed limit for the route is 30 km/h, but it shouldn’t take more than five minutes to get through.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, there will be periodic traffic stoppages throughout the day, but not during rush hour.
While this detour is active, there will be occasional periodic stoppages to allow for blasting work,” said a statement from the Ministry. “These stoppages will not occur between the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.”
In addition, commercial vehicles that exceed 3.8-metres in width will only be permitted to use the detour between midnight and 5 a.m.
Argo crews are currently placing the guard rail for the Callan Road detour created after the rockslide on #BCHwy97 between #Peachland + #Summerland. No estimated time of opening. Check @DriveBC for updates. pic.twitter.com/JBYbToC3FI
— Argo Roads South Okanagan (@ArgoRoadsSOK) February 10, 2019
Since the Callan Road detour is now open, both the 201 Forest Service Road and Trout Creek Forest Service Road detours are no longer necessary and won’t be maintained.
There’s still no estimated on when Hwy 97 will reopen to traffic and the Ministry will hold their next media conference call this afternoon.
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