VANCOUVER -- A stretch of B.C.'s most notorious highway will be closed Wednesday for proactive avalanche control.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure advised drivers the stretch of Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt will be closed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The opening time is approximate, the ministry said, and the Highway 5 closure could be extended or delayed due to weather.
"Due to heavy snowfall over the last several weeks, avalanche control via helicopter is required from 11 kilometres south of the Great Bear Snowshed to nine kilometres north of the Coquihalla summit," the ministry wrote in a news release Tuesday.
The work from the air will remove weak layers of snow and ice and reduce the depth of the snowpack, officials said.
Drivers who rely on the highway are asked to change their plans or take an alternate route. Updates on the timing of the closure will be posted on the ministry's DriveBC website and Twitter account.
Crews brought in to conduct proactive avalanche control are "highly trained" and monitor weather and snowpack conditions continuously, the province says.
Avalanche professionals manage more than 60 areas and nearly 1,400 individual avalanche paths in B.C.
Weather-related highway closures possible
Environment Canada also warned that some B.C. highways might be closed as a Pacific frontal system passes over part of the province.
As much as 70 centimetres of snow may accumulate in some areas, including along Highway 3 between the Paulson Summit and Kootenay Pass.
Other mountain passes could see between 10 and 50 centimetres of snow, according to the weather agency's warnings.
Elsewhere, rainfall warnings are in effect and the same frontal system is expected to dump as much as 90 millimetres of rain on affected areas.
Watch: The below video posted by the province shows avalanche control at Bear Pass.
