The temporary stabilization work on Highway 97 north of Summerland is nearly completed and the work will be shut down for the winter.

The highway will remain open with two lanes of traffic, and the province will monitor the site to ensure safety.

The province will soon tender a project to complete the long-term repairs on the portion of the highway between Callan Road and Okanagan Lake Provincial Park. Repair work is expected to begin in the spring of 2025.

These repairs are to enhance safety and will reduce future risks to the portion of the highway.

The section of the highway immediately north of Summerland was closed on Aug. 28, 2023, following a rock slide. Around 3,000 cubic metres of material fell onto the surface of the highway.

Tension cracks were found above this area. These cracks were up to two metres wide and up to 20 metres deep. They showed that the initial rock slide was part of a larger slide, the province says. As a result, geotechnical engineers have determined that additional long-term stabilization measures are required in this area.

When the slide occurred, a temporary soil and rock berm, 22 metres high, was constructed to resist further slope movement. 

Crews have also been working on long-term stabilization measures, which is why the repair work is scheduled for 2025.

The area north of Summerland has been affected by earlier slides. 

In 2008, the highway was closed in both directions when a fault was discovered in a rock face. This occurred while crews were working to expand a portion of the highway from two lanes to four lanes. The closure lasted for 19 days.

Six years later, in 2014, another slide occurred in the same area. Around 34,000 cubic metres of rock and unstable material were blasted and removed from the area.

In January 2019, a rock slide in the area resulted in a road closure lasting for more than a month.