The area director in Vavenby says highway safety improvements are a start, a year after a truck crash spilled 350 litres of diesel into the North Thompson River.

Carol Schaffer says 650 metres of no-posts have been installed along the Yellowhead Highway, about 10 kilometres south of Avola.

“Two of the accidents happened there, one happened south of that area. That is something I will have to talk to (Ministry of Transportation staff) from Kamloops about that, and see if we can get some no-posts there as well.”

Schaffer says she’s hopeful maintenance will be improved this winter as well.

“The highway contractors in Blue River, they have new management. So there should be an improvement in road service, road maintenance. We’re told there will be improvements. But it’s hard to improve when you have different types of weather. There’s five different weather shifts from Vavenby to Blue River, they can change in a second. So it’s hard to keep up, and they’ve got a lot of area to cover,” she says.

“Most of our road in that area is beside the river, and the river lets moisture go and when it comes up, it lands on the road and creates ice.”

Two truck crashes caused diesel spills in the North Thompson River last winter, on Dec. 30, 2018 and on Jan. 5, both during winter conditions. A third crash resulting in a diesel spill happened along the highway further south in May as well.