With winter just around the corner — and the
northern part of the province still digging out from a snowstorm — the
provincial Ministry of Transportation has announced a new program that will
provide motorists with free road condition information over the phone.
The DriveBC toll free numbers is 1-800-550-HWYS (4997), and was
available as of Wednesday, Nov. 1. Although the system is not new, in the past
motorists were charged a fee of 75 cents for the call.
“As we head into the winter driving season, driving conditions
can be very challenging,” said Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon. “We want
to help travelers be safe. That’s why we are implementing a toll-free line to
make it easier for the travelling public to check the latest road conditions,
from wherever they are.”
To find out the conditions on Highway 99, for example, you can
access the report by region or by highway number from the main menu at DriveBC.
As well as any accidents or weather delays the recording will also let people
know about delays and closures because of events and construction.
The same information is available online at
www.drivebc.ca
, which is updated in real time
as information comes in. The website currently gets over 3,000 visits per day.
DriveBC has also doubled the number of webcams around the province monitoring traffic. Now 70 different web cams can be accessed online, including one camera that monitors Highway 99 just south of Whistler, the Lions Gate Bridge, and the Taylor Way/Marine Drive intersection.
