Driver behaviour as much of a factor as maintenance in Coquihalla closures: MoT

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s the most stressful part of holiday travel for many — worrying about whether the interior highways will be clear and open.

And with thousands of drivers heading out on the interior highways, and with numerous closures already this year, the condition of the roads will be top of mind.

The Coquihalla has been shut down multiple times already this month, but the Ministry of Transportation believes highway maintenance isn’t the problem.

Mike Lorimer, the Ministry’s director of the southern interior region, is proud of the work maintenance crews have done over the past few years, despite the stories of drivers being trapped for hours in snowstorms.

“I look at the way we’re managing snowfalls on the snowshed hill which has traditionally been one of our big problem areas,” he says. “We’ve dramatically changed the way we do maintenance in the snowfall events. When you see a closure there it’s much shorter, and we tend to see a lot less closures.”

Despite high-profile stories about multi-car accidents and jack-knifed semis, Lorimer thinks crews have been doing a better job over the last few years keeping up during snowstorms.

“But in that same time, really seeing a change in the driver behaviour, how they’re driving the Coquihalla, the speed that they’re driving,” Lorimer says.

He adds new maintenance contracts will require crews to get down to bare pavement within 24 hours of a snowfall in certain conditions, but those new contracts won’t come into effect until next winter at the earliest.

Lorimer adds the overall maintenance of the Coquihalla Higway doesn’t matter if drivers are going too fast.

“Using the best technology we have now, to get the road service better. But then also looking at all the tools we have to get folks to drive to conditions.”

He believes driver behaviour is as much of a factor, with people refusing to drive to the conditions of the road.