Alberta Transportation had reduced travel to one lane along Highway 837 this spring as the troublesome hill along the scenic drive continues to tumble.
The Mail reported in December of last year that Alberta Transportation brought in a geotechnical consultant to look at the hill when it was tumbling last winter. This spring, the road was blocked by the sliding hill. Craig Siewert, operations manager for Alberta Transportation says they are giving the hill space to move.
“They did do the engineering work and it came back to the same answer. This is going to be a periodic nagging slide and just keep going with what we are doing,” said Siewert.
This spring the hill continued its downward travel. “There was quite a bit of material, so what we did is close the lane closest to the hill and put Jersey (concrete) barriers half into that lane and then left the material in the ditch so we can go in with a loader and clean out as needed,” he said. “This is obviously better for the travelling public because we don’t have the debris on the road periodically”.
They have also erected temporary signals, like those during bridge construction, to control the traffic.
He says the plan is that as soon as the hill stops sliding, and the hill stabilizes, they will reopen the road to regular traffic flow.
“June is our rainy month, and moisture drives the sliding, so we will see how this month goes,” said Siewert.
They are continuing to monitor this hill for stability, and have employed new technology.
“They had the drones out again last week looking up top and trying to find out what is going on a little bit more,” he said. “Drones are a lot safer than having people climb up those hills, it is the same with bridges.”
