The road was closed today due to the condition of one of the bridges. The first two on the road are passable but the third is badly damaged.

The 4th bridge into the Downton area is getting much worse - and NOT safe to drive on!!! It's gotten a lot worse in the last 3 weeks, so many of the track boards are gone now (which are needed to distribute weight across the bridge) and people are driving on the support beams underneath, of which a couple of them are also now rotting and deteriorating heavily. I would not drive on this bridge again!!! I asked my dad (who used to design and build bridges like these for powerline companies) and he rated it 5-9 unsafe with 10 being most unsafe. I had brought a few boards up from the lower bridges and got across on track on just one side, but they are not secured, and some were already rotting, so won't last long.

Drove all the way to kilometer 16. After the Viola Lake area around kilometer 12 the road is completely overgrown. Despite that the road bed was intact and we managed to plow our way to a clearing at 16km. We walked the remainder on the following day and it’s no worse than the previous section. I did lose the housing on my mirror as a sacrifice to the alder gods

Drove 9km in to 1378m at the Seton

Drove to the Mount Seton TH at 1378m, 9km in. The bridge off Hwy 99 is still in. Snow free. Road was a 2WD friendly cruise in excellent condition.

Barriers have been moved to the side and the bridge is in tact. Flagging is present around the bridge and seems to indicate impending logging.

No specific update since last one. Pin tripping isn’t terrible for veteran SWBC peak baggers but might be intolerable for the averaged. 10cm accumulated snow at 1540 m elevation trail head for Melvin

Mike K reports that bridge repairs are ongoing for Downton Creek. However, according to the resource district manager/engineer these repairs are being carried out by a mining operating to access their site. The repairs are not up to public standards and so will necessitate a gate.

See: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wvXsn48PRTdDwpkb/

Just after the blocks, bridge is destroyed

Barricade blocks are far apart-probably passable for an F250. Look like they may have been set by a crane-equipped hwys truck. Question is : Is Downton subject to a seasonal open/closed policy?

Measured the lock blocks before the 0KM bridge at 95" apart (+/-) - for reference, we saw a couple of full size trucks (F150/Silverado) had made it past. Road in decent shape to Seton TH, should be fine to there in most 2wd even - hardest part is probably the far side of the first bridge. After Seton TH to Holly Lake turnoff it's narrower, couple spots where a bit of clearance helps but no major washouts or waterbars. Some very small thin alders will brush against your vehicle, but wouldn't consider it too "pinstripy".