Highway 4 on Vancouver Island closed as rain increases risk of falling debris
Rainfall forced the complete closure of Vancouver Island's only highway to the western communities of Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet on Wednesday.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says Highway 4 was shut down at Cameron Lake because rain increased the risk of debris falling onto the roadway after a recent wildfire in the area.
The ministry said the highway was expected to reopen at at 5 p.m.
"When rain thresholds exceed a certain amount – in this case 10 millimetres over a 12-hour period – we’re required to shut the site down," said Ashok Bhatti, executive director of the ministry's South Coast region.
The ministry has erected mesh coverings along highway to prevent loose rocks and other debris from falling onto the roadway after the Cameron Bluffs wildfire.
Weekday closures from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. are already in place at Cameron Lake to allow workers to remove debris left by the June wildfire.
That schedule will remain in place until mid-August, with a two-hour opening to flush single-lane alternating traffic between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily.
"Our teams have been progressing steadily to try to meet that mid-August [reopening] timeline, which is around next week," Bhatti said. "We're about a couple of weeks from being complete here at this point."
The ministry says the work is critical to ensure the long-term safety of the corridor after a geotechnical assessment of the hillside found that rock scaling would be required before the highway can fully reopen to two-way traffic.
Outside of the closure periods, Highway 4 will continue to operate with single-lane alternating traffic. The detour route between Port Alberni and Lake Cowichan also remains open for public and commercial use.
Highway 4 was closed on June 6 as firefighters battled the Cameron Bluffs wildfire. Single-lane alternating traffic has been in place along the highway since June 23.
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