Car destroyed in rockslide on Whistler highway

A rockslide on the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Whistler and Vancouver destroyed one vehicleearly Thursday morning as boulders the size of cars crashed down onto the road.

Officials have said one person is being treated for minor injuries at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver.

The rockslide occurred around 5 a.m. PT near the exit to Strachen Point Road, abouthalfway betweenHorseshoe Bay and Lions Bay.

Highway 99 remains open in both directions, but northbound traffic is restricted to one lane only.

A history of slides

In July 2008,a bus narrowly escaped being crushed by a massive rockslide thatclosed the route for five daysfurther north on the highway at Porteau Cove.That narrowsection of the highway has been closed several times by slides,including closures in 1959, 1960, 1969 and 1982.

Further south on the route in February 2007, the highway was closed for a day by a rock slide just north of Horseshoe Bay and in November of 2008 another smallslide occurred north of the junction with Marine Drivenear the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. Nobody was injured in those incidents.

Stablization work continues on the cliff face abovethePorteau Cove section of the route, despite a $600 million upgrade of the highway for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

But there has been adramatic dropin the number of crashes on the Sea-to-Sky Highway since the twisting mountain route was upgraded, according to the Ministry of Transportation.