Old Fort Road closed again soil moves near road

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The 2018 Old Fort Landslide has moved again and now the Old Fort Road is closed in both directions.

Residents of the Old Fort are stuck in their community after it was determined late Thursday night to close the Old Fort Road. The road is blocked from the entrance of the Site C Dam.

The Ministry of Transportation says the soil movement appears to be localized around the road and this has been confirmed by GPS monitoring.

The Ministry also says they do not believe this is a sign of a larger-scale movement of the slide.

The notice from the Ministry goes onto say, “To keep road users safe, the road will be closed until a geotechnical assessment is completed. Geotech is travelling to site for assessment first thing in the morning.
Next update at 10:00 AM, June 19th.”

The Provincial Government will determine if the PRRD needs to enact it’s Old Fort Emergency Plan. Existing evacuation orders and evacuation alerts remain in effect. No new evacuation orders or alerts have been issued. Only emergency responders may enter the evacuation order areas.

For further information, please contact the District office at 250 787-3237.

Residents woke on Saturday, September 29th, 2018, at some point during that night, part of the Old Fort Hills shifted bringing part of the hill down and blocking the Old Fort Road. Residents were evacuated from their homes for over a month while the slide continued to move. The slide hasn’t moved since residents were allowed to return to their homes in 2018.

Photos from the 2018 landslide.

***Editors note – The story has been changed since it was first published. The original story said the information provided came from the PRRD, but in fact the information came from the Ministry of Transportation.