Rock slide closes major B.C. highway

LIONS BAY, B.C. — Highway 99 in B.C. has been shut down between Furry Creek Bridge and Lions Bay due to a massive rockslide.

Traffic is closed in both directions along the 16 km stretch of the Sea-to-Sky Highway and could remain closed for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

"Five days is probably a safe scenario," Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon told local media after touring the site on Wednesday. "The uncertainty is what we’re going to find above and what we find on the road."

As much as 16,000 cubic tonnes of rock lies across the road and nearby railway tracks in piles up to nine metres deep. Some of the rocks are reportedly as "big as trucks."

A bus traveling from Vancouver to Whistler was hit by some of the slide losing some windows, but managed to get out before anyone was injured.

The Ministry of Highways is determining the stability of the rock face and the Canadian Coast Guard and RCMP air and police dog services are patrolling the area trying to determine if any vehicles were caught in the rockslide. Falcon expressed relief that no one is believed to be trapped.

"Everything else is fixable, human lives are not," Falcon said.

Aerial views have shown significant road and rail damage from the mass of falling rock.

The rocks cover 75 metres of road and are piled about 10 metres high and the area is comprised of between 5,000 and 16,000 cubic metres of debris. Cleanup crews need to be assured it’s safe before they begin moving debris and there’s no way to know how long that process will take.

The route is also the only direct route between Vancouver and Whistler, where construction crews are busy preparing venues for the Olympic Games in 2010.

— with files from the Vancouver Sun