Highway 20, BC - Closed
Highway 20, west of Williams Lake is closed until at least this weekend due to a major washout. There is a long and dusty detour in effect over some old logging roads. Certainly doable in an RV as lon...
Forum Discussion
The update today stated that there is no conclusive cause for the washout.
“There was an existing culvert there, but we don’t have a root cause in the incidence. There isn’t one identifying feature in the field that is saying ‘this is what caused this.’”
It could be a combination of factors, he added.
“One could be high groundwater, there is a small creek in the area and we think it was certainly flowing, and we did have some water pooling on the ditch side of the embankment, but certainly nothing that would have been of a significant concern to us leading up to the incident.”
Agriculture irrigation does take place nearby but Hubner said there is nothing indicating it was a contributing factor at this time.
I was reading on FB that the reports yesterday morning that mentioned an irrigation pipe is because there is a largish irrigation pipe but further down to the bridge and people first thought that this pipe may have leaked for some time under the roadway which slowly undermined the soil and eventually caused the roadway to give way. Albeit, on a smaller scale, it is apparently not that all uncommon of a problem with old irrigation pipes in some older farm and ranch areas.
“There was an existing culvert there, but we don’t have a root cause in the incidence. There isn’t one identifying feature in the field that is saying ‘this is what caused this.’”
It could be a combination of factors, he added.
“One could be high groundwater, there is a small creek in the area and we think it was certainly flowing, and we did have some water pooling on the ditch side of the embankment, but certainly nothing that would have been of a significant concern to us leading up to the incident.”
Agriculture irrigation does take place nearby but Hubner said there is nothing indicating it was a contributing factor at this time.
I was reading on FB that the reports yesterday morning that mentioned an irrigation pipe is because there is a largish irrigation pipe but further down to the bridge and people first thought that this pipe may have leaked for some time under the roadway which slowly undermined the soil and eventually caused the roadway to give way. Albeit, on a smaller scale, it is apparently not that all uncommon of a problem with old irrigation pipes in some older farm and ranch areas.
