An early morning rockslide hit Highway 99 Wednesday (Nov. 12) and a geotechnical analysis has yet to reveal what caused the mass of debris above the roadway to dislodge.Ministry of Transportation communications officer Dave Crebo confirmed on Wednesday that at 7:30 a.m., a "small" rock fall severed the northbound lane of Highway 99 about 300 metres south of the new Pasco Road just north of Lions Bay. "There was single-lane alternating traffic until a loader could arrive and clear that out of the way, and traffic was flowing again in both direction by about 8 a.m.," said Crebo.No injuries were sustained, he said."Fortunately there are no reports of any damage or anything like that."Crebo said the area is a construction zone, and there is highway improvement work occurring at the site of the rockfall, but an assessment has yet to determine whether roadwork contributed to the slide."To everyone's best understanding, there was no work going on at that time. But work had gone on in that area," he said. "A geotechnical engineer is coming in today to take a look at that and other slopes in that area that may have been impacted by recent rains." The incident renews questions over contingencies in the event of a rockslide during the 2010 Olympic Games. But highway users will still have to await answers."VANOC is expected to release a transportation plan early in 2009, and that would contain those kinds of contingencies," said Crebo. "We [the ministry] are working with VANOC on that."The overland Eagleridge interchange route, which is slated for completion by the summer of 2009, is meant to help with the flow of traffic in 2010 and beyond. But the route would not have helped with the flow of traffic in this scenario, said Crebo.
