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Massive Rock Slide Closes B.C.'s Sea to Sky Highway

by Jarrett Martineau | July 30, 2008 at 07:19 am

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A large rock slide occurred Tuesday evening on the Sea to Sky Highway and the road will be closed for at least 24 hours while the debris is being cleared.

See additional NowPublic coverage from member Barbara McPherson here.

A massive rock slide has blocked a portion of the Sea to Sky Highway in both directions.

Highway 99 is closed from the Furry Creek Bridge to Horseshoe Bay, about 50 kilometres south of Squamish, B.C.

Just before midnight Tuesday, truck-sized boulders came crashing down on the road near Porteau Cove, covering both lanes of traffic and trailing into the water.

A spokesperson from the Squamish RCMP detachment says at least 16,000 cubic metres of debris will have to be blasted in order to clear the road.

The highway is expected to be closed at least 24 hours.

The Sea to Sky Highway is currently undergoing a significant upgrade for the 2010 Olympic Games.

Drivers have been advised to find alternate routes.

The rock slide has also blocked an adjacent railway line:

The route, Highway 99, and an adjacent railway, were buried under an estimated 16,000 cubic metres of rocks, some the size of trucks, according to initial police reports.

Alternate transportation routes are being advised as follows:

South of the slide, traffic heading north from Vancouver was being turned around at the Eagleridge intersection near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, but residents of Lions Bay were being allowed through. North of the slide, local traffic was being allowed south as far as Furry Creek.

To reach Whistler from Vancouver, drivers will have a long detour east on the Trans-Canada Highway to Lytton, then north on Highway 12 to Lillooet, and then south on Highway 99 through Pemberton to Whistler.