Alberta's Icefields Parkway, Highway 16 to partially re-open following wildfire closure

Critical routes running through Alberta's rocky mountains, closed down by a wildfire still raging in Jasper National Park, are now slowly re-opening to traffic.

Drivers are being given access to key highways through two of Alberta's most popular national parks but travel will be restricted by the ongoing fight against a blaze that devastated the Jasper community. 

The stretch of Highway 16 that cuts through the national park will open to all traffic on Friday, provided wildfire conditions allow for safe travel, Parks Canada said in a statement.

The highway will open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., but access is subject to change without notice. Stopping or exiting off of Highway 16 is not permitted and officers will be patrolling the route to ensure drivers comply, officials said. Entry into the townsite remains prohibited.

A special advisory from DriveBC said Highway 16 would be open from Hargreaves Road, near Mount Robson in B.C., and the Alberta-B.C. border, under the same conditions. There will be no services after Mount Robson.

Meanwhile, a southern stretch of the Icefields Parkway, a scenic and highly-travelled route that connects the community of Lake Louise in Banff National Park with the Jasper townsite, will also partially re-open on Friday.

The Icefields Parkway between Saskatchewan Crossing to the area of the Icefield Centre in the Athabasca Glacier area, will again be accessible.

The routes were closed more than two weeks ago when massive wildfires spread rapidly through Jasper National Park, threatening local highways, triggering a mass evacuation of the park, and incinerating about one-third of the structures in Jasper.

Highway 16 through Jasper has been blocked from just west of Hinton to the B.C. border since the evening of July 22, when Parks Canada and the municipality issued a mandatory evacuation order for the national park.

Evacuation orders remain in effect throughout Jasper National Park and access to the Icefields Parkway will only extend as far north as the Icefield Centre. The Icefields Parkway will only be accessible from the south via Highway 11 or Highway 1.

With the threat from the flames subsiding along portions of the route, visitors will again be granted access to one of the park's most popular destinations, the Columbia Icefield, an ancient expanse of ice about 100 kilometres southwest of the Jasper townsite. 

In a statement, operator Pursuit said it is prepared to welcome visitors to the Columbia Icefield on Friday. The Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre, Columbia Icefield Adventure, Ice Odyssey, Columbia Icefield Skywalk at Sunwapta Valley and Glacier View Lodge will all re-open, the operator said in a statement Thursday.

Banff National Park day-use areas and trails on the Icefields Parkway are now open to all visitors, except for Nigel Creek Pass, a backcountry trail near the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre.

With limited visitor safety resources, the Toe of the Athabasca Glacier trail is open but only to authorized operators, officials said.