Highway 16 floods near Jasper after days of heavy rain
Road crews are mopping up after flooding closed Highway 16 east of Jasper, creating a waterfall that gushed over the pavement and into the ditch.
The highway, part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, was closed 10 kilometres northeast of the Jasper townsite for a couple of hours early Thursday, stalling commuters and other travellers.
The highway reopened to a single lane of alternating traffic around 8 a.m.
Dieter Kepper, who lives in Hinton, managed to drive through the water in his pickup truck on his way to work in Jasper around 6:30 a.m.
"The ditch is completely gone on one side, the bank is completely gone. Trees were down," Kepper said an interview around 10 a.m.
"Last year we had three weeks of straight rain in Jasper and I never saw the road like that.
"The water isn't going to get any higher, it's just a matter of whether its going to wash away the pavement. It's sprinkling here right now."
Parks Canada spokesperson Steve Young said the washout was caused by days of heavy rain. About 50 millimetres of rain has fallen in the area since Tuesday and local creeks and rivers are swollen.
"We already had some pretty high water and there's still some pretty good snow pack up there on the mountain," Young said. "So, as you can imagine, we've been dealing with some high water for a while now."
Crews will assess the road for signs of erosion damage Wednesday, Young said. It isn't known when it may be fully cleared for traffic, he said.
"We were able to put through a single lane alternating traffic at this time but there's no guarantee that we'll be able to continue. But crews are on the scene and they're trying to look at ways where they can divert the water or ... try to keep Highway 16 open best we can."
Drivers should expect delays.
However, thanks to the gloomy weather, traffic snarl-ups Thursday morning weren't as bad as they could have been.
Canada Day in the park was quieter than usual, he said.
"It was eight degrees and raining all day [Wednesday] so I think the number of day trippers coming out to Jasper for Canada Day was fairly low based on the weather forecast and what it turned out to be like.
"If it was a sunny day and 80 degrees, I think we would have had a different issue. Judging by it in the pictures I've been, it doesn't look like the delays are all that long at this point but that could change."
