Coquihalla Highway reopened after more than 24-hour closure

An avalanche along the Coquihalla Highway is seen in this still from a video posted by the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. (Twitter/@TranBC)

More than 24 hours after it closed because of "extreme winter weather" the Coquihalla Highway reopened late Saturday afternoon.

The stretch of Highway 5 between Hope and Merritt closed in both directions before 11 a.m. Friday as crews dealt with significantly more snow than had been forecast. 

A statement from the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on Friday afternoon indicated that more than 70 centimetres of snow had fallen on the highway over the preceding 48 hours.

At the time, Environment and Climate Change Canada was forecasting an additional 15 centimetres to fall on the route overnight.

The ministry's statement advised travellers to take Highway 1 or Highway 3 as an alternative route between the Lower Mainland and the Interior, but warned that "significant delays" were likely.

The heavy snowfall added to the already-significant avalanche risk in the region, and the road remained closed for most of the day Saturday to allow avalanche control work to take place.

The ministry's Twitter account shared updates on the work throughout the day, at one point tweeting a 30-second video of a large slide coming down the side of a mountain.

At 4:30 p.m., DriveBC tweeted that the Coquihalla Highway had reopened.