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Highway 99 may get safety enhancements after crash kills two

Local government officials seek information about 10-hour closure of highway
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Aftermath of tragedy Cars wait for Highway 99 to reopen following an accident that killed two young women north of Lions Bay on Saturday, Nov. 23. Photo by Karen McKibbin

The Ministry of Transportation (MOT) is looking into safety concerns along a stretch of the Sea to Sky highway following an accident that killed two people last weekend.

"The ministry is working with the police in conducting their investigation of the incident," said an MOT spokesperson by email.

"The ministry is also undertaking a review of the crash location and along with the police findings, will determine whether additional safety enhancements are needed in the area."

The stretch north of Lions Bay was widened and the alignment of the curves improved, as part of the $600 million Sea to Sky Improvement Project completed in the lead up to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. But there are no concrete lane dividers.

Olivia Sonja Robertson and Valentine Leborgne, both UBC students just 19 years of age, were going to Whistler with two other friends for the day on Saturday, Nov. 23 when their SUV crossed the centre line five kilometres north of Lions Bay and slammed into an oncoming pickup truck at about 7:25 a.m. Both died at the scene. Their two friends were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The driver of the pick-up truck received only minor injuries. He is facing no charges in the incident.

Local government officials and business leaders are calling for safety upgrades, even a barrier separating the two lanes, along with seeking answers about the decision to close down the highway entirely to traffic for over 10 hours resulting in hundreds of travellers being unable to get to Whistler.

Whistler's acting mayor, John Grills, said a senior member of the RCMP traffic division is going to meet with Whistler council at a future Committee of the Whole meeting to explain the work the Integrated Collision And Reconstruction Service (ICARS) does when there is a fatal crash in the hopes of understanding the length of time accidents take to investigate.

Grills said his thoughts are with the crash victims.

"If it was my 20-year-old university student that was on the highway and the responders felt they needed time to complete the investigation then it has to be taken," Grills said.

"We've got two university students that are deceased and another severely injured and you've got a pickup driver who is dealing with an awful situation."

Lions Bay Mayor Brenda Broughton is reiterating her call for centre-line dividers throughout the route, and wants to meet stakeholders to discuss highway safety. She first made the suggestion when the highway upgrade was in its engineering phase.

"We asked for a barrier in that area," Broughton told CBC. "There's no question that if there's a divided highway you've got a scenario that's a safer scenario than without that division."

At the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District meeting held on Monday, Nov. 25 the directors voted to support her and write a letter to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure backing Broughton's call for the installation of more concrete dividers.

Val Litwin, the CEO of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, described Highway 99 as an essential pathway into Whistler.

"We know in tragic circumstances we need to close that road for safety reasons. We also know that when that route gets closed the resort feels the impact," said Litwin, adding that his thoughts are with the victim's families.

Wedding planner Linda Marshall said she and a team she brought together to put on a wedding worked a much longer day than they expected as a result of the road closure. The wedding was a year in the planning. Marshall said many of the wedding guests and two of her key staff members got trapped in the line of vehicles headed north on the highway. Some of the guests hired a boat to get around the road closure.

"We ended up transferring some people out of Vancouver and shuttling them from Squamish," said Marshall.

The wedding at the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre was delayed by 90 minutes and the number of guests in attendance was far fewer than originally planned.

It proved to be a costly day for Marshall, as she couldn't recover additional costs from her clients. She simply chalked it up to the cost of doing business in a resort town.

"The wedding was beautiful and it was a most beautiful, crystal-clear, coldish winter day," Marshall said. "Normally you're worrying about a snow storm."

Patricia Westerholm, the communications manager at Tourism Whistler, said TW was deeply saddened to hear of the tragic incident on Highway 99.

"Our hearts go out to all those involved in this tragedy," she wrote in a statement. "With regards to the closing of the highway, our top priorities will always be safety, and the efficient transport of our guests."

The highway closed after the early-morning crash and remained closed until just after 5 p.m. Sgt. Wayne Pride of the Squamish RCMP said meticulous work is required after fatal crashes.

"We fully understand that people have lives, but when we investigate things like this and specialized units come in, they take all the time they need to do the investigation," said Pride.

When it is possible to safely route traffic around a crash without exposing travellers to horrific scenes, Pride said the police do their best to get traffic moving.

"As soon as they can get the evidence they need they do try to clean up the highway and move things off," Pride said.

In this case the ICARS was brought to the scene to gather detailed evidence. In addition, the crash happened in an area of the highway where there isn't a great deal of room between the rock face to the east and the drop down the hillside to the west.

RCMP Insp. Tim Shields was on the south side of the crash scene on Saturday.

"This is a tragedy beyond words," Shields told news outlets Saturday.

"The temperature was around zero degrees Celsius and there was some frost, potentially icy conditions in certain areas."

As well as being under investigation by the RCMP, the BC Coroners Service is investigating the fatal crash.

—with files from Clare Ogilvie