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Expect heavy long weekend traffic in and out of town

LOWER MAINLAND (NEWS1130) – Ready, set, go! Or maybe… stop. News1130 is watching all the escape routes as we head into the long weekend.

The good news is Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope has re-opened to traffic after yesterday’s mudslide.

The borders have been good so far, but Travis Goodman in the News1130 Traffic Centre says the waits will be unpredictable today. “Yesterday was the last day of school for many students; combine that with Canada Day, and it’s tough to predict.”

“The last time we had a holiday Friday, the border waits on the Thursday were huge,” he adds. “We had line-ups two, three, even four hours long and it was also very busy on the Friday. Now, the fact it’s Canada Day, [we] might have less people travelling south of the line but we’ll certainly keep you updated.”

News1130 has some advice from US Customs and Border Protection that should save you some time, if you’re one of those folks making the trip south of the line:

First, be sure to wake up early to beat the lineup. “Traffic this year over last year is up around 30 per cent,” says Chief Tom Schreiber.

“With the Canada Day holiday and the US Fourth of July holiday, we are anticipating the border to be very busy, and we are going to layer on top of that fine weather and a strong Canadian dollar,” he adds.

Schreiber says all lanes at the border will be open starting at 6 a.m. tomorrow and Saturday. Expect long lineups by 8 a.m. — and expect them to last all day.

BC Ferries reservations are already sold out for many routes. Deborah Marshall with BC Ferries says the major routes will be busy today and tomorrow morning, but Sunday might not be quite as extreme.

“Now that the kids are out of school, lots of families will be starting their vacations so they may leave today or tomorrow and then not return for a week or two,” she explains.

If you haven’t reserved a space on BC Ferries, you should get to the terminals good and early and expect to wait.

For up to the minute traffic updates, you can follow us on Twitter @News1130Traffic or subscribe to breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox. You can also listen live to traffic reports every ten minutes on the ones. 

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