Safe driving key to keep Hwy 3 open: Fleming

Preventing collisions and keeping Highway 3 open comes down to safe driving from everyone travelling on it.

Transport Minister Rob Fleming urged commercial drivers to familiarize themselves with the route, as it will likely remain the only roadway between the Lower Mainland and Interior for some time.

“Please drive with care and caution,” he said. “This is for their safety and the safety of all other drivers using Highway 3 right now. … It is a safe route … but anyone using it must drive to conditions at all times.”

His words come in the wake of several collisions closing the critical connector since it reopened almost two weeks ago.

He understands many drivers are not accustomed to travelling the highway, as nearly all commercial traffic used to frequent the now-shuttered Coquihalla.

Enhanced maintenance and law enforcement have been brought in to help manage the corridor.

“We can’t control the weather, but we can control how we drive, and we need to keep Highway 3 free of accidents,” Fleming added.

He said the trip from Surrey to Keremeos is still taking truckers about 10 hours, nearly twice as long as it normally does.

“It’s about drivers keeping other drivers safe,” he said.

Elsewhere, traffic started to flow along Highway 1 from Vancouver to Hope Thursday afternoon, something Fleming chalked up to an “all-hands-on-deck” approach. A tiger dam erected to protect the roadway from overland flooding was removed earlier in the day.

On Highway 5, the minister said the timeline remains the same for reopening it by the end of January.

Even with a recent string of atmospheric rivers swamping the province again, he said significant work on temporary repairs continued.