Part Of The Trans-Canada Highway In BC Will Be Closed For A Month & Here's Where To Avoid
It'll add 1.5 hours of travel time to your journey.
The Kicking Horse Pass Road of Yoho National Park, Canada.
Travel on a 4.8-kilometre stretch of a major highway through B.C. will be suspended for a month this spring.
The Trans-Canada Highway, also referred to as Highway 1, will close in both directions at Kicking Horse Pass between the Easter and Victoria Day weekends from noon on Tuesday, April 19 to noon on Friday, May 20.
All traffic from Golden to Castle Junction will be routed via highways 93S and 95, adding as much as 1.5 hours of travel time to your journey.
Why is the road closing?
In short, the road is being widened. When it's completed, by winter 2023-24, the winding two-lane road will be converted to a four-lane highway, which the B.C. government says will make it a "safer, more reliable route" for people travelling through the Kicking Horse Canyon.
This closure will allow crews to complete what they describe as "work at more challenging sites" such as construction on and next to the existing highway, which includes putting heavy equipment on the road.
There are some exemptions, though.
The construction zone will be opened briefly to local traffic with pre-arranged permits twice a day. Traffic will be escorted by a pilot vehicle during half-hour periods beginning at 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Similar escorts will be provided for school buses and emergency vehicles.
Where is the diversion?
The road is closed east of Golden so the diversion is now south to Radium Hot Springs and then north east to Highway 1 between Banff and Lake Louise, as shown in the map below.
B.C. officials say roadside signs will provide advance notification of the closure and there will also be signs on the alternative routes.
Drivers should use caution and watch for wildlife, school children and school buses while travelling the alternative routes, it adds.