As of noon today April 19, Highway 1 through the Kicking Horse Canyon will be closed to almost all traffic for the next month.

It will allow crews to work to widen that section of the highway to four lanes, with the BC Government saying that the end goal of the work is “improve safety” from the previous two-lane section that they said was “severely constrained.”

Project Manager Mike Lormier told NL News the highway is being shut down between Golden and the Alberta border town of Castle Junction now to avoid worse disruptions during the busier summer travel season.

“Really what we are targeting is some of the work that we just can’t physically do while the highway is open,” he said.

“There are places where we’ve got to put piles to support the bridges right down the centre line of the highway. What the contractor has done is really sort of saved up that work that needs that space and the time, and they are planning to do that in that month.”

Lormier says all non-local traffic on the highway will have to take a 90 minute detour on highways 93S and 95 through Radium Hot Springs until noon on May 20, adding as much as 90 minutes of of travel time to the trip.

“[The highway] will be open for some local commuter traffic. There is a pass system that we have in place,” Lorimer added. “So some of the frequent users like some of the Parks Canada employees. They can get through at 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., but like I said, it is really limited to people that have specific passes for that.”

The B.C. Trucking Association says while it is not pleased with the impending month-long shutdown, it is also giving the industry an opportunity to adapt.

“A lot of companies have embedded switch points into their routes, particularly during these closures where literally a westbound truck will meet an eastbound truck, the drivers will switch and they’ll head back the other way,” BCTA president, Dave Earle, told NL News.

But he also did say that the shutdown will be “a pain” as it will create additional financial and logistical challenges for truckers.

“It is important to note that the closure is really sandwiched between the Easter long weekend and the May long weekend,” Lormier said, when asked about the concerns.”

“We’re trying to do everything we can to minimize the impact on folks and on businesses, especially as we get rolling hopefully out of COVID. It is just really to do it safety, we need that window in the spring to do some of the work.”

The entire project to four-lane the highway through the Kicking Horse Canyon is expected to be completed in 2024.

Updates on delays will be available online at DriveBC.ca