Highway 1 east of Golden in the Kicking Horse Canyon will close once again today at noon local time, for a month-long closure as a part of the Kicking Horse Canyon Project.

During this time, traffic will be re-routed through Radium, via Highway 93 and Highway 95. The detour will add approximately 1.5 hours of travel time.

The highway will reopen at noon on Friday, May 20, in time for the May long weekend.

During this time, no through traffic will be allowed, with exceptions for emergency vehicles and limited numbers of commuters with passes. Commuters will escorted by a pilot vehicle, during one half-hour period in the morning and one half-hour period in the afternoon. Similar escorts will be provided for local school buses.

Day passes are available to get through during commuter hours, with only a short supply available. Applications open 24 hours before and can be completed on the Kicking Horse Canyon Project website.

It鈥檚 the third round of extended closures to the highway as a part of Phase 4 of the Kicking Horse Canyon Project.

Construction activities will be carried out 24 hours a day and cannot be performed safely in the presence of traffic or during shorter interruptions, says the Ministry of Transportation.

The project will see the highway expanded from two lanes to four with a meridian divider, with approximately 4.8 km of highway being updated, with 13 curves realigned and wider shoulders along the highway to accomodate cyclists.

The closures are a part of the larger Alberta to Kamloops four laning project, with the Province committing $837-million to upgrading Highway 1 between Kamloops and the Alberta border over the next three years under Budget 2021.

Work is also being done on Quartz Creek Bridge just west of Golden, and construction wrapped up on the Illecillewaet Brake Check portion of the highway just east of Revelstoke this past summer.

The project is expected to last three years, with a maximum of 30 weeks of closures over that time.