LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County crews officially froze traffic for the season on the ice road across Lac La Biche lake from the Mission to Poplar Point last Wednesday morning.
The four-kilometre stretch of roadway carved into the frozen ice surface of the lake has been monitored and maintained by municipal crews since January 11 this year. The public road, with a top speed limit of 30 kph, and a width of more than 50 feet, ran across an ice surface that was about three-feet thick. Recent warming temperatures, however, have created overflow conditions and weaker ice, says the municipality's associate CAO of Infrastructure Services Ron Fraser.
"The conditions are getting poor and sloppy on it," he said.
The weather forecast for the next week in the region won't see many chances of recovery for the fast-thawing thoroughfare (say that five times fast).
Temperatures for the Lac La Biche region are expected to remain above zero for daytime highs all week, with some double-digit positive temperatures forecast for the coming weekend.
