Lanes on Metro Vancouver bridge closed for snow removal, some buses detoured

Snow hit Metro Vancouver Tuesday morning, leading to some temporary traffic interruptions across the region.

Snow hit Metro Vancouver Tuesday morning, leading to some temporary traffic interruptions across the region.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m., DriveBC posted to social media saying some lanes on the Alex Fraser Bridge connecting Richmond to Delta would be closed to remove snow. The closure started with the northbound right lane, with the southbound lane to follow.

B.C.'s Transportation Ministry has previously explained crews will close those lanes to clear snow and ice from bridge cables to prevent so-called "ice bombs" from forming and dropping onto cars below. A cable collar system was installed in 2018 to help clear snow, but they require manual operation by rope-access technicians to clear the cables.

Snow also led to bus detours on and near Burnaby Mountain because of road conditions. TransLink posted several updates Tuesday morning, saying some routes were only offering limited service.

For example, shortly before 9 a.m., TransLink said service on the 145 between Production Way-University SkyTrain Station and Simon Fraser University was limited.

Up-to-date route information is available on TransLink's Twitter feed. 

The traffic disruptions came as Metro Vancouver remained under a snowfall advisory Tuesday morning. The weather statement said up to five centimetres could accumulate across the region before the precipitation turns to rain later on in the day.