Latest Summerland rockslide renews call for reliable route through Okanagan

The rockslide near Summerland Monday only closed the road for about an hour, but it’s another example of why there have been so many calls for a better route through the Okanagan over the years. 

A rock the size of a microwave hit the highway near Bridgeman Road, along with some smaller rocks on the southbound lane around 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

There was one vehicle struck by the rockslide, but the ministry said it isn’t aware of any injuries. 

This slide was roughly four kilometres north of Summerland, south of the North Beach slide site. 

The ministry was conducting a geotechnical investigation Tuesday, Dec. 9. 

Kandace Sztepanacz lives in Penticton and works in the emergency room at the Penticton Regional Hospital. She said that the unreliability of Highway 97 has directly affected her.

She had a roommate who worked in Kelowna and when the 2023 rockslide happened they ended up having to move in order to keep their job.

“With the length of the closure. I ended up losing them as a roommate. So that hit me financially,” she said.

She said people in power aren’t taking the highway closures seriously.

“I’m just frustrated with the situation. With the whole lack of concern that there’s only one way through the Okanagan and there’s repeated closures,” she said.

The Ministry of Transportation has been working just up the road and Sztepanacz is worried about how thorough the investigation is going to be to make sure that more slides aren’t imminent.

“Is another big slide going to happen? Are they paying attention to it? Are they checking it to make sure that it’s stable and that this was just kind of like a one-off?” Sztepanacz said.

Kelowna-Mission Conservative MLA Gavin Dew said this is a reminder that the highway needs improvements and the region needs a backup.

“We need to get moving on alternative routes, and we need to see serious infrastructure investments in the region, not the kind of hell-dragging dribs and drabs we have seen for almost nine years,” Dew said in a text message to iNFOnews.ca.

West Kelowna-Peachland Conservative MLA Macklin McCall took to social media to criticize the efforts to secure that section of the highway and call for highway improvements.

“Rocks came down here over a year ago,” McCall said. “The slope-stabilization work didn’t start until a year later and progress has been slow. When will this government finally prioritize public safety and stop neglecting critical Okanagan infrastructure?”

The Ministry of Transportation started the long-term stabilization of the 2023 rockslide site in November after the short-term work had been completed. 

The ministry awarded Emil Anderson Construction a $23.2 million contract to stabilize the site.

The temporary stabilization work wrapped up last year, but long-term stabilization is necessary since workers found massive tension cracks in the mountain that were two metres wide and 20 metres deep.

The 2023 rockslide that brought 3,000 cubic metres of rock onto the highway, and closed it for weeks, is far from the first case where the only reliable route through the Okanagan has been shut down. 

In 2009, the Glenrosa Wildfire closed the highway northbound at Drought Road and southbound near Hubert Road.

In 2010, the Testalinden Dam failed leading to flooding and debris that closed the highway for days.

There were other rockslides near Summerland and Peachland in 2019 and 2023.

Wildfires in 2023 at Drought Hill and Peachland Creek closed the highway in during evacuations. 

This year there have been several significant closures to the highway like the bomb threat that closed the William R. Bennett bridge in January and wildfires at Drought Hill and Peachland Creek. 

Okanagan BC Conservative MLAs called for viable alternatives to Highway 97 following the bridge bomb threat earlier this year. 

“It’s difficult to say exactly what needs to be done right across the whole section of the highway. However, there’s a big issue here. This is unstable. It’s been unstable for a long time,” McCall said at a press conference back in January. 

BC Conservatives, the City of Penticton and MP Dan Albas have called for upgrades to Forest Service Road 201 so it can be an alternative route. 

“The 201 can no longer be treated as a forgotten forest road. When a single incident can cut off access to critical services, jobs and emergency care, it’s clear our infrastructure is failing us,” Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield said in a statement in July.