The Coquihalla Highway will be reopened between Hope and Merritt after the blizzard that has bottled up the traffic

The Coquihalla highway is expected to reopen Sunday afternoon after its two-way closure between Hope and Merritt due to a snowstorm that has caused traffic chaos and dangerous driving conditions, DriveBC said.

The agency announced that the southbound lane would reopen around 13:30. and the northbound lane at 14:30

Route 5 was pummeled by the snowfall during the night. On Sunday morning, Environment Canada issued a snow warning for the area and predicted a 10 to 20 centimeter drop.

"An unstable flow off the Pacific Ocean will continue today and tonight. Heavy rainfall has lowered snow levels to nearly 1,000 meters this morning and the snow level is expected to remain hovering near this mark until tonight, "the weather warning said.

Road maintenance crews were caught off guard by heavy snowfall, confirms the BC Ministry of Transportation in an email to Global News.

"The weather forecast last night and early this morning was a light snowfall. The crews were out and prepared for what was planned, "the statement said.

"This morning, a storm cell caused heavy and unexpected snowfall, resulting in the formation of compact snow and slippery conditions on the road."

Adding to the chaos, the province confirms that street lights mounted on the chain warning commercial vehicles to add chains when driving on the highway pbad are not activated until 10 am.

"Although chaining conditions were posted on DriveBC this morning, electrical issues related to on-site string lighting prevented their activation," the e-mail said.

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An incident involving a vehicle took northbound traffic on Sunday and drivers were warned to expect delays south due to winter driving conditions.

Lou Myre, who operates a semitrailer, went on Sunday morning, from Kamloops to Langley, along the Coquihalla Highway.

"Pretty, very slippery, covered with snow, you can not even see the lines of the road. We had a lot of trucks going up, "he said about the road conditions.

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"We were trying to scream on the radio to get the message out of the chain. If you came to the south, the descent was very slippery. We brought a van with a horse trailer, a small penknife near the racket, "he said.

Myre thinks the snowstorm has surprised VSA Highway Maintenance. "Hat to them if they can solve this mess."

Shortly before 11 am, the agency announced that the Coquihalla highway was closed in both directions.