The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure hopes to open a detour on Callan Road, below the Highway 97 slide area, in the next four or five days. There is no estimate as to when the highway itself will reopen. SUBMITTED/ Ministry of Tranportation

Detour planned around Highway 97 slide area could take 4-5 days

PENTICTON – With no timeline for reopening of Highway 97 north of Summerland, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure hopes to have a detour open around the slide in the next four to five days.

Work has begun on a detour using Callan Road, which runs parallel to and just east of the highway. Significant fill is needed to connect the road to the existing highway, which will be built to handle commercial traffic, Ministry of Transportation Deputy Director of the Interior Region, Paula Cousins said today, Feb. 7.

Cousins said a considerable amount of work remains to clean up the slide area. Crews are working two,10-hour shifts to establish the detour on Callan Road.

Once constructed, the detour is intended to handle one lane of traffic in either direction.

According to a transportation ministry official, significant slope movement, in the order of 6 to 11 mm has been detected since sensors were installed at the slide area yesterday.

Some drilling has resumed and rock scaling took place today.

Alternate routes remain in place. Cousins said other alternate but unmaintained roads are being discouraged for safety reasons.

Argo Road Maintenance is maintaining the 201 forest service road and is preparing for possible snow on the road in the next few days.

The ministry continues work to define the extent of the latest rock failure. Monitoring hubs were only placed yesterday, so data on the slide’s size has only just begun to be collected.

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Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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