Sink hole closes B.C.’s Coquihalla Highway northbound from Hope to Merritt

A sinkhole has stopped northbound traffic on the Coquihalla Highway ahead of a busy travel weekend.

A major highway in the British Columbia Interior has been partially closed due to “urgent sink hole repairs.”

The provincial Transportation Ministry’s DriveBC information system says the Coquihalla Highway has been closed northbound between Hope and Merritt.

DriveBC says the closure is due to what it calls a “washout” that requires urgent repairs, and the northbound lanes will remain closed until further notice.

In a social media post, DriveBC says it had been hoping to allow traffic through by early Friday afternoon, but the service has since scheduled the next status update for 5 p.m. “due to unforeseen geotechnical circumstances.”

Motorists looking to travel northbound on the Coquihalla are being asked to divert to either Highway 1 or Highway 3.

The closure was first reported by DriveBC at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday night at a location between the Portia and Zopkios Brake Check exits, about three kilometres south of the Great Bear Snowshed passageway.

DriveBC has not released any information on the potential cause of the sink hole.

This report by Chuck Chiang of The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.