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Major flooding caused part of Highway 16 to wash out last week, causing traffic delays for days.
All hands were on deck, Parks Canada workers were joined by Jasper Concrete, consultants, pipeline workers and flaggers to help repair the road and keep workers safe.
And Jasper National Park spokesman Steve Young has praised the efforts of everyone who worked on the highway over the weekend.
He said: “We couldn’t have done it without the dedication of those crews. A lot of them are local and they all kind of dropped everything and helped us in a time of need and our crews were out there all the time as well.”
Young said the flood location, ten kilometres from the Jasper townsite, was just on the edge of cell service, adding further complications to the massive repair job.
He said: “It was challenging in a number of ways but those people really rose to the challenge and put everything on hold to get the road open.
“It’s the community spirit Jasper is known for. Jasper came together.”
Jasper and Jasper National Park have seen persistent rain over the last two weeks. That, combined with a late snow melt has resulted in rivers, lakes and streams continuing to swell.
And with more than 50 millimetres of rain around July 1, the highway was flooded near Snaring River the following morning.
Photos of the highway that morning show one lane of the roadway flooded and water cascading over the shoulder on the other side.
It was about a two kilometre stretch of road, and that new waterfall caused the side of the road to break away.
Steve Young, spokesman for Jasper National Park, said: “It was a big joint effort with a lot of people involved.
“It’s not just about Jasper in these situations - it’s the Trans Canada Highway. We have got to keep this open as best we can for trade and economic development.
“Jasper businesses don’t need another hit right now.”
Traffic was reduced to one lane before 7 a.m. on July 2 from the national park east gate to 10 kilometres east of Jasper until 12:30 p.m., when the roadway was fully closed to make room for repair work.
It reopened to single lane alternating traffic the next morning (Friday, July 3) with vehicles stretching back to the Jasper townsite and delays of more than seven hours - partly increased due to two semi trucks and a car colliding near Talbot Lake around 1 p.m., no one was injured.
Those delays were reduced on Saturday, to 10 to 40 minutes, but highway experts were on the scene monitoring for traveller safety and repairing the washed out road all weekend.
On Sunday the road was completely closed for about an hour, but it fully reopened to two-way traffic that evening.
“We had pumps there to pump the water away, installed a new culvert (tunnel to carry water) under the highway and the road had broken away so we had to rebuild the sides of the road,” said Young.
The maximum speed in the area has been reduced to 70 kilometres an hour until further notice as some additional remedial work is still required.
Drivers should expect delays and single lane alternating traffic at times. Check 511 Alberta before travelling.
