While out-of-control wildfires continue to burn and smoulder in Jasper, the critical highway route through the national park is set to reopen to commercial traffic.
The Alberta government says Highway 16 is expected to open to commercial traffic within the next day.
“Government of Alberta understands this is an important economic corridor and it’s a priority for us to get large trucks and tractor-trailers passing through the park again,” Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Parks Canada decides whether to close or open the road, but the Alberta government, including the premier and cabinet ministers, have pressed the importance of getting the highway open to commercial vehicle traffic, Ellis said.
“We are optimistic that it’s gonna be within the next 24 hours to get at least the commercial vehicles going through, that will be number one,” Ellis said. “And we’re trying to make sure that it is at the very minimum, safe.
“There’s a lot of planning that goes into this because really, quite frankly, we’re still at a crisis point when it comes to wildfires … in Jasper at the moment.”
Parks Canada said Wednesday that “plans are underway to imminently facilitate movement of heavy commercial traffic,” on Highway 16 through the park.
Updates on when the highway will open to semis or other users will be posted to 511 Alberta and on the park’s website.
The stretch of Highway 16 through Jasper has been blocked from just west of Hinton to the B.C. border since July 22, when an estimated 25,000 people fled the park with hours notice as the flames encroached on highways, showering ash and embers.
About one-third of the structures in the townsite — an estimated 358 out of 1,113 — were destroyed when the flames moved in from the south last Wednesday, overwhelming crews.
The damage to Jasper from an immense wildfire — described as a monster, with flames reaching 100 metres high when it hit the Alberta town — were on full display during a guided tour provided by Parks Canada on Sunday. About one-third of all the town’s structures are estimated to have been destroyed.
The fire, likely sparked by lightning, is one in a cluster of three fires being fought as one. In all, they have burned more than 36,000 hectares.
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