Marthony
07-23-2012, 11:03 PM
It was an interesting weekend for driving, or rather, parking on either side of a mudslide in the rockies:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mud-slide-stops-traffic-on-trans-canada-1.887292
On the West side of the mudslide the build-up of vehicles seeking to head East on highway 1 was 20km long at one point. Delays were as long as 7 hours. On the East side of the mudslide the authorities set up a single-file 'checkpoint' 20km East at the national park gate (<5km of the nearest town of Canmore), letting people continue to Banff or turning drivers away that sought to drive further West than that. Delays around 2.5 hours. Canmore hotels were filled.
Information was available via listening to the radio, but otherwise drivers had no idea at all why they were stopped. You know how many stories I heard about people getting their info from the radio..? None. I encountered many well-to-do and annoyed drivers who had no idea why it took so long to get through the gate until they finally talked to the RCMP.
A 20km build-up of vehicles from a mudslide. I couldn't help but think, what if this had been a sustained blockage of the highway? In the mountains in that section, there simply isn't another route by car; the detour is around 8 hours! Some may eventually think & manage to cross the median & go back the way they came, if in summer, but I have to wonder what that would look like. The weather was fair so no danger to the stranded drivers there, but at +/-30C vehicles could have run out of gas. If sustained over a day, the Banff & Canmore towns could receive thousands of tourists, truckers & locals on foot. In peak tourist season the hotels would fill up fast..!
Some locals are avid outdoorsmen/mountaineers and would have prepared vehicle kits, and I'd hope the truckers would as well, but tourists are often in rental vehicles and have next to nothing with them much less the preparedness mentality while vacationing.
What do you folks think that would look like?
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mud-slide-stops-traffic-on-trans-canada-1.887292
On the West side of the mudslide the build-up of vehicles seeking to head East on highway 1 was 20km long at one point. Delays were as long as 7 hours. On the East side of the mudslide the authorities set up a single-file 'checkpoint' 20km East at the national park gate (<5km of the nearest town of Canmore), letting people continue to Banff or turning drivers away that sought to drive further West than that. Delays around 2.5 hours. Canmore hotels were filled.
Information was available via listening to the radio, but otherwise drivers had no idea at all why they were stopped. You know how many stories I heard about people getting their info from the radio..? None. I encountered many well-to-do and annoyed drivers who had no idea why it took so long to get through the gate until they finally talked to the RCMP.
A 20km build-up of vehicles from a mudslide. I couldn't help but think, what if this had been a sustained blockage of the highway? In the mountains in that section, there simply isn't another route by car; the detour is around 8 hours! Some may eventually think & manage to cross the median & go back the way they came, if in summer, but I have to wonder what that would look like. The weather was fair so no danger to the stranded drivers there, but at +/-30C vehicles could have run out of gas. If sustained over a day, the Banff & Canmore towns could receive thousands of tourists, truckers & locals on foot. In peak tourist season the hotels would fill up fast..!
Some locals are avid outdoorsmen/mountaineers and would have prepared vehicle kits, and I'd hope the truckers would as well, but tourists are often in rental vehicles and have next to nothing with them much less the preparedness mentality while vacationing.
What do you folks think that would look like?