Heavy rain overwhelmed a culvert on Salt Spring’s Blackburn Road just above the transfer station, washing away the earth beneath the roadway and leading officials to halt traffic there Saturday, Dec. 28.
Emcon Services’ South Island operations manager Andrew Gaetz confirmed the closure, saying erosion under the asphalt adjacent to the culvert from the recent heavy rain had made the roadway unsafe for vehicles until a repair could be made. Gaetz said his team and representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) visited the site Tuesday, Dec. 31, and were in the process of developing a repair plan.
“It is likely the culvert will need to be replaced,” said Gaetz. “The void under the pavement extends from the outlet to just over the centerline, about 10 to 11 feet from what we can tell.”
Access to Sunrise Place will need to continue via Cranberry Road for the immediate future, Gaetz said, as there was currently no timeframe on lifting the closure on the east side of that intersection.