The transportation ministry has a new tool to help with avalanche control along Highway 16 west of Terrace.
Officials plan to install five Star Wars looking pods called O’Bellx units on the cliffs above Mile 35 of the route, an area typically responsible for 80 percent of avalanche closures.
The pods sit on towers and use a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to produce an explosion that can be triggered by remote control.
Officials say the system will reduce closure time on the highway between Terrace and Prince Rupert because the ministry won’t have to use helicopters and explosives to trigger slides, something that
couldn’t be done in the dark or in bad weather.
All five units will be installed about 55 kilometres west of Terrace around mid-June, after local mountain goats have delivered their young.
