Avalanche Detection System to be Installed Along Trans-Canada Highway

Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change for Parks Canada, recently announced the installation of an Avalanche Detection Network on the Trans-Canada Highway in BC's Glacier National Park.

The first of its kind in Canada and the largest in the world, the system uses radar and infrasound technology to provide avalanche information as it happens, reducing  emergency response time and better informing highway closure decisions. The system will monitor a high risk selection of snow paths within the 42 km Rogers Pass area of Glacier as part of the $18 million investment through federal infrastructure funding.

Not only is the area important to outdoors people and vacationers to the area, the route also forms a main artery between Alberta and the west coast. Calgary stands about a 10 hour drive from Vancouver along the route. Numerous investments have been made over the years to help reduce avalanche risk, including several new Remote Avalanche Control Systems and 2,200 metres of netting to contain the snow pack through the steep, jagged Canadian Rockies.

This investment adds to the $77 million already in use for the construction of a new passing lane near Roger’s Pass, as well as new safe parking areas for when road closures result from an avalanche.