Highway 3 reopened after closure due to 'spun out commercial vehicles'

The only truck route linking B.C.'s Lower Mainland to the Southern Interior was closed between Hope and Princeton on Sunday for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Highway 3, also known as the Crowsnest Highway, is currently limited to essential travel only between those two cities, after last month's storm that brought landslides and flooding and destroyed much of Highway 5, also known as the Coquihalla Highway.

Shortly after noon on Sunday, DriveBC reported that the route had closed due to "spun out commercial vehicles." 

By 1:50 p.m., the highway had reopened westbound, but eastbound lanes were still closed due to what the provincial agency called "multiple vehicle incidents and extremely poor driving conditions."  

The route reopened eastbound shortly after 6 p.m.

Earlier in the day, the road's westbound lanes were closed west of Princeton for a "vehicle recovery," though that was cleared fairly quickly, according to DriveBC. 

The full closure in the afternoon on Sunday came after a similar closure the previous day due to downed power lines.

That incident shut down Highway 3 between Princeton and Manning Park. The road was closed from around 6:50 p.m. until 11:20 p.m., according to DriveBC. 

The repeated closures come as Environment Canada maintains snowfall warnings for mountain passes in the region, including on Highway 3.

The weather agency urged travellers to keep others informed of their schedules and destinations, and to carry emergency kits with them. 

On Saturday, the CEO of the Women's Trucking Federation of Canada told CTV News out-of-province truckers who aren't trained in mountain driving have been having trouble with Highway 3. 

"It’s very bendy and windy, the grades, it's much more difficult than the travel on, say, the Coquihalla for instance," said Shelley Walker, adding that Highway 3 also lacks places to pull over, if needed, during a snowstorm. 

With files from The Canadian Press