Like a High Wire act, high above the Terrace to Rupert Highway

Avalanche prevention work
along Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert

For many that make the journey between Prince Rupert and Terrace on a regular basis, the drive while a familiar one by now, still offers up some of the most impressive visuals of any in the country.

And in particular, those portions where the highway runs close to the mountains is perhaps a segment where motorists and passengers marvel at some of the engineering required to keep the drive safe and the dangers from above from reaching the roadway below.

The Ministry of Transportation has just released a fascinating video, highlighting the work and the dangers that come with it, for the teams of workers that safeguard the mountainsides from potential avalanche dangers.

The video, highlights work that took place in the fall of 2014 along a stretch 56 kilometres west of Terrace where avalanche fencing has been installed to try to reduce the incidences of avalanche events that have closed the highway in the past.

This one area of the highway that was addressed in the fall, has accounted for 80 percent of the closure time for the entire stretch from Prince Rupert to Terrace,

The work environment provided for a challenging job, one that used a 7 man crew and 82 metres of fencing, with the work  taking place 325 metres above the highway.

You can learn more about the project here, the video of the work high on the mountainside can be found below.