There will be single lane closures along the side of the Coquihalla between Kamloops and Merritt starting on Wednesday this week to allow for weeding work to take place.

The work will take place between 5 a.m. and 12 noon Monday to Thursday, and last for two to three weeks.

“Certain areas are going to undergo chemical treatments with herbicides and in more sensitive areas like those along water courses, they are going to undergo manual removal, possibly some biological control which is the use of predatory insects to help reduce the populations,” said TNRD’s Invasive Plant management coordinator Coleen Hougen.

Hougen says the project has a budget of $100,000, and the work will start near Merritt and move north until the funding runs out.

“We are focusing on spotted knapweed, diffused knapweed, blueweed…and any other invasive plantsm” she added, noting that highways are central to the spread of invasive plants.

“Typically when a car pulls over in an infested area, they may pick up some plant parts or seeds and carry them up the highway,” she said. “We just really want to prevent further spread into the region and other regions and as well prevent spread onto adjacent lands.”

The TNRD has partnered up with the Ministry of Transportation, who is funding the project.