It was another day of bad news for motorists trying to head south of Peachland on Highway 97 in the Okanagan on Sunday.
And many are worrying that if the highway is closed during a business day on Monday, that bad news will get worse.
"I've got a lot of customers south of the area that's been affected so it's going to hamper my ability to get to those customers," said businessman Mike Buizyna.
The highway was closed shortly before 7 p.m. Friday night after workers found an unstable and dangerous rock face in the midst of a $54-million widening project by Arthon Construction Co.
Geotechnical engineers say the fissure is several feet wide and is about 30 feet deep. Rough estimates are that around 300,000 cubic meters of rock are moving on the face.
The highway shutdown severs the main transportation artery between Penticton and Kelowna.
"We're certainly apologetic for the inconvenience to the public," said Kevin Falcon, B.C.'s Transportation Minister.
"But we're not going to put the public at risk by trying to run them through here for convenience's sake when there's the possibility that 300,000 cubic meters of rock could come down," he said.
Experts are assessing the situation, but until the hillside stops moving, it's too dangerous to begin work to fix it.
"When it stops and we're happy that it is sufficiently stuck then we can get some equipment on top of it," said Mike Oliver, a provincial geotechnical engineer.
So for now, Okanagan residents will just have to take the long way around. It will be mid-day Monday at the earliest before they know when repair work will even be able to get started.
An alternate route via Okanagan falls forest service road to Highway 33 is being prepared for Monday morning travel.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart
