It’s too early to say if the federal government will help businesses under stress from the devastating wildfire season in B.C., Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Tuesday.
The ministry has eight changeable message signs to guide drivers through the detour. It has installed 12 porta-potties. Four water trucks have been deployed to help control dust on the gravel road. Two graders are smoothing the road surface and three pilot vehicles are travelling with the commercial convoys to warn oncoming traffic at the single-lane bridges.
During the summer months, 15,000 vehicles travel daily between Port Alberni and Parksville on Highway 4. Between 500 and 1,000 are using the detour route daily, said Staite. “There have been some improvements on the current alternate route which is why it has been selected. It is the most desirable, drivable route that is open. We have put cautions on there for essential travel because we don’t want it overly congested. We also want to make people fully prepared for the conditions there … it’s not a paved highway.”