The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) has provided an update on the status of the 10 Mile Slide at Xaxli’p, located 15 kilometres northeast of Lillooet on Highway 99. The news about the state of the highway at the site—especially as it pertains to tour buses—is not positive, and has left at least one local business wondering about the implications.
After hearing from MOTI last week, Lillooet mayor Marg Lampman reported on the slide at a council meeting. Since grading and repairs were completed at the slide on April 6, rain and thawing have caused movement rates to pick up at the slide. The increased movement has caused new sinkholes to form and culverts to shift and break.
Ministry geotechnical engineers visited the site early last week to assess the conditions and provide recommendations for repairs and maintenance. Lampman was told that returning the highway to two lanes “will not be feasible until additional support is installed.”
MOTI is proposing doing advance work, including installing 44 anchors into the mountainside, ahead of issuing the main contract for the $60 million project. The ministry says that installing the anchors in advance of the main project would provide the additional support necessary for maintenance activities at the site, such as returning to two-lane operations.
Lampman had asked if it would be possible to provide exceptions to allow tour buses to pass through the slide. Lillooet’s economy suffered a blow last summer because of the record-breaking fire season that affected travel throughout the Interior.
Local businesses were hoping to bounce back economically this summer, but MOTI told the mayor it cannot make an exception for tour buses because the current load restrictions on the slide “are in place for safety reasons. The buses would require a permit to pass through, which would not be issued unless there is a dire emergency.”
Lampman told The Bridge River-Lillooet News that she “impressed upon MOTI that last summer we lost out on a lot of tour traffic because of the fires and closure of the highway and now this year we’re being faced with the 10 Mile Slide not being open to commercial traffic and tour buses.”
The mayor continued, “The option of going the long way through the Big Slide towards Lytton is terrifying to the tour bus drivers and their passengers. Are we going to be faced with the option that they won’t come this way? I don’t know. I’m hoping that it won’t be that way. The last several calls I’ve had with MOTI have been impressing on them what the lack of a 100 per cent weight load for that area of the 10 Mile Slide is doing to our local economy.”
Robert Sharkey, chair of the board of Friends of Historic Hat Creek, only found out about the tour bus restrictions late last week, and is worried about the effects this will have on Historic Hat Creek if buses are not able to travel from Lillooet to the site along Highway 99.
“A significant amount of our income from tour buses comes along that route,” he told The Journal. “I’m concerned about the detour route, which is Lillooet to Lytton to Cache Creek. It’s such a long drive, and that extra length of time, when you add in the travel time to Historic Hat Creek, won’t work for tour bus schedules, which are very tight. I’m concerned that the buses will get to Cache Creek and turn right to go to Kamloops.
“And I wonder if the tour bus companies know about this [situation],” he continued. “Those bookings are done a year in advance. Once the companies get wind of this, if they haven’t already, it will be a concern for them.”
Sharkey says he has written to Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart about the situation, and the economic significance to the whole area, including Historic Hat Creek. Last year’s wildfires saw the site closed for several weeks due to evacuation orders, and impacted by highway closures.
According to MOTI, the start of construction on the main project at the 10 Mile Slide has been delayed because of “unforeseen challenging site conditions” which require additional engineering. Provided there are no more unforeseen issues, the ministry hopes to begin construction in the fall of this year.
With files from Barbara Roden