BANFF – Parks Canada is planning a full review of events that unfolded over the course of a major winter snowstorm that shut down Highway 93 South through Kootenay National Park and forced some drivers to spend the night in their vehicles.
Environment Canada reports between 30 and 60 centimetres of snow fell in areas along the 104-kilometre stretch of highway controlled by Parks Canada between Castle Mountain and Radium Hot Springs.
Several vehicles lost control during white-out conditions on icy sections of the mountain road, including a semi-trailer that jack-knifed and blocked the two-lane highway during the height of the storm, which began late Saturday evening and subsided Monday.
Rick Kubian, Parks Canada’s field unit superintendent for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay, said the storm affecting Highway 93 South was part of a weather system that wreaked havoc across much of British Columbia.
“When we have a major incident like that we do some form of after-action review to take a look at what happened and to take a look at our actions relative to our standards and our practices,” he said.
“We’ll take a good look to determine if there is anything we should or could have done differently and determine if there’s anything we can do to improve upon our approach going into a future storm cycle.”
There were reports of several vehicles in highway ditches at various locations and trucks that stopped to chain up causing gridlock. Social media posts indicated it took some people up to 12 hours to drive from Invermere to Banff, while others spent the night in their vehicles.
Kubian said there were multiple traffic accidents, but thankfully no reports of serious injuries as a result.
“We had multiple incidents and that resulted in traffic stoppages or slow moving traffic,” he said, noting highway crews were still cleaning up from the snowstorm on Tuesday.
When Highway 93 was closed southbound, traffic backed up for several kilometres east of Castle Junction on Monday, blocking Lake Louise residents from getting home and making it impossible for snowplows or emergency services such as ambulances to get through if needed.
Banff RCMP detachment commander, Staff Sgt. Mike Buxton-Carr, said police tried to help mitigate the traffic jam.
He said large commercial trucks and other vehicles pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway while waiting for Highway 93 to reopen.
“Eventually when that line gets backlogged, it just takes one person to stop on the outer lane and then the traffic backs up behind them,” said Staff Sgt. Buxton-Carr.
“No one could get through. It took several hours to work our way to the front of the line and clear that.”
Traffic along Highway 93 South has increased substantially with the temporary closure of the Trans-Canada Highway due to construction in Kicking Horse Canyon just east of Golden to twin Canada’s main transportation artery.
All traffic is being diverted at Golden, via Radium to Banff and vice-versa.
Kubian said Parks Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure did multiple road safety audits of Highway 93 South in the lead-up to Trans-Canada Highway twinning project, which got underway earlier this year.
“We each completed a road audit to make sure the highway was safe for the traffic types and volumes that we had anticipated with the full closure of the Trans-Canada,” he said.
“In essence, the highway is safe to drive if drivers follow the rules of the road.”
While most of Kootenay National Park falls within a cell coverage and WiFi dead zone, emergency satellite communication phones are available at Marble Canyon day-use area and Parks Canada’s operations centre at Kootenay Crossing.
Additional emergency phones are planned for the Simpson River trailhead and Kootenay River day-use area.
“Parks Canada is correcting unforeseen technical difficulties and looks forward to launching them for public use,” said Julie Champagne, a Parks Canada communications spokesperson for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“When complete, the new emergency satellite phones will be accessible year-round and provide connection to 911 for visitors in need of assistance.”
More recently, Parks Canada put in additional signage in a few key areas along the highway.
“We want to make sure people understand speed zones or speed advisories, so we’ve done a bit of work there to shape driver behaviours,’ said Kubian.
Speaking from personal driving experience on that highway during the first snowstorm, Kubian said many people are driving dangerously.
“I witnessed first-hand some really problematic driver behaviour," he said.
“Drivers were not driving to the road conditions or to the road signage and really putting everyone at risk.”
Kubian said while the review following this recent snowstorm might come up with ways Parks Canada can do better in terms of public communication or how they managed the highway through the storm cycle, the onus is still on drivers to do the right thing.
“The public can do better at really doing their best to practice appropriate driver behaviour,” he said. “That includes slowing down to the driving conditions and following the rules of the road, including speed zones and speed advisories.”
While drivers were expressing anger and frustration on social media over the state of the highway throughout the major snowstorm and the southbound closure, Kubian said the Parks Canada highway crews were out at all hours of the day and night.
“When there’s challenges like this, they kind of take it personally and I just want to give a shout-out because I am so proud of that gang and how hard they worked,” he said, adding park highway crews provide service 24-7 through winter.
“The staff that are out there on the roads are always doing their very best and they care deeply about keeping that highway open and safe. We all get focused on the single storm incidents, but they are out there working hard day over day.”
In the two weeks leading up to this weekend’s snowstorm, Highway 93 South has been the scene of several crashes over consecutive days, resulting in temporary closures to clear and investigate the accidents.
A head-on collision near the Great Divide on the Alberta-B.C. border left a 42-year-old man fighting for his life in a Calgary hospital on Nov. 9. Suffering from significant injuries, he was airlifted by STARS air ambulance to hospital in serious condition.
In another accident involving two cars near Boom Lake, three people were taken by EMS to Banff Mineral Springs Hospital. Two women, aged 25 and 31, with multiple traumatic injuries were then flown to Foothills Hospital by STARS.
Staff Sgt. Buxton-Carr said drivers should be prepared for winter driving conditions on Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park.
“It’s a mountain pass and winter rated tires are mandatory,” he said, referring to the B.C. law requiring snow tires, all-season radials or chains on Highway 93 South between Oct. 1 and April 30. “It’s not safe to travel in poor road conditions on all-season tires.”
Because much of the highway falls within a cellular dead zone, Staff Sgt Buxton-Carr said drivers should monitor relevant websites ahead of time and be prepared in the event of coming across an accident.
“You should be prepared if there is an obstruction or delay in travel plans,” he said, adding it’s a good idea to let friends and family know of travel plans so they can monitor sites to learn if there are highway closures.
