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Government looking for pubic input on Sea to Sky upgrade

With the announcement that Vancouver and Whistler have won the 2010 Winter Olympic Games the pressure is on to get started on the $600 million Sea to Sky Highway upgrade.

With the announcement that Vancouver and Whistler have won the 2010 Winter Olympic Games the pressure is on to get started on the $600 million Sea to Sky Highway upgrade.

Starting this week the Ministry of Transportation wants the public and other stakeholders to comment on issues they feel are critical to the project.

"Specifically what we need to work with are any concerns about impacts that the project may have that are not adequately addressed in the application," said Raymond Crook, project assessment director at the Environmental Assessment Office.

"If they live in the corridor they may be concerned about the long time frame of construction – six years – and the construction’s staged closures.

"There may be more concern about increased traffic and noise. They might urge support for the project. They might raise questions about the impact on wildlife management or fisheries, or they might question whether the analysis of economic costs and benefits is legitimate."

The comment period will run until Oct. 17.

There are several ways to make your views known:

• Email to eaoinfo@gems2.gov.bc.ca or Ray.Crook@gems2.gov.bc.ca .

• Write to: Raymond Crook, PO Box 9426 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, B.C. V8W 9V1

• Phone: 1-250-356-7492

• Fax: 1-250-387-2208

• Attend public meetings. There will be two: one at Millennium Place on Sept. 12 from 4 to 9 p.m. and another at Totem Hall in Squamish on Sept.16 from 4 to 9 p.m.

Other stakeholders are also being canvassed for their views. They include the municipal governments in the corridor, the two regional districts, several provincial government ministries and a number of federal departments.

First Nations will also be asked for their input.

"We will hear all the issues raised and generally what we do is forward the issues to the agencies responsible for developing policy in the area of the issue to see if they feel that the issue has been adequately addressed," said Crook.

The developer, in this case the provincial government’s Ministry of Transportation, is also informed about the issues so that it can prepare a response to them.

"At the end of the application review state, which takes about six months, the EAO will prepare a report for the ministers," said Crook.

"(This) will identify the issues raised and whether or not we consider the issue has been adequately addressed and we will be relying primarily on existing government policy in that determination."

Three government ministries will make the determination on whether or not to go ahead with the project at the end of the consultation period: The Ministry of Sustainable Resources, The Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection and the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women’s Services.

But, said Crook, it is really this stage of the process which will show how committed the developer is to meeting the concerns of stakeholders.

"The proof of the pudding is in this stage of the review," he said.

"This is the formal application and it will document the issues that have been raised with (the developer) and how they propose to deal with them and when people look at those proposals then we will know whether the proponent has done a good job."

Stakeholders have had a positive experience so far with highway upgrades on the Sea to Sky.

There were months of discussion before the current Culliton Creek project got underway, during which interested parties voiced concerns about closures and other issues.

Eventually a scheduled was drawn up which kept the long time closures to a minimum, and at night, and kept the highway open during important holiday weeks and weekends.

"Like most others in Whistler we don’t want to see the highway construction impact the high volume periods," said Whistler-Blackcomb spokesman Christopher Nicolson.

To date the Ministry of Transportation has paid attention to the mountains concerns, he said.

"And we want to thank them for that," said Nicolson.

"MOT has done a lot of research in terms of understanding when people travel and what those volumes are and our expectations.

"Our hope… is that they will work their construction around the peak times so that Whistler as a community and a resort is able to accommodate the people trying to get here."

The Resort Municipality of Whistler has been meeting with the ministry monthly for some time.

The RMOW is working to make sure the upgrade meshes with the Comprehensive Transportation Strategy, contains components of Transportation Demand Management, such as bus priority and park and ride, protects the natural environment and air quality, and recognizes the uniqueness of the resort community especially as an economic generator.

The upgrade is no small task. It’s estimated that the work, which will not affect the whole 120-kilometre stretch of highway, will cost $5,000 per metre.

If you filled dump trucks with the rock that has to be excavated they would stretch from Vancouver to Whitehorse. If the rock were put in BC Place Stadium it would fill the stadium twice over.

More than half of the rock excavated will come form the stretch between Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay.

The upgrades are due to begin in May 2004 and finish in 2009.

Currently the upgrades call for delays between Vancouver and Whistler lasting four to five years. There will be 10 to 30 minute delays and closures lasting 2 to 4 hours on 100 days of the year. Daytime closures will be necessary on about 35 of these days.

The current plan has four lanes from Horseshoe Bay to Lions Bay, two lanes from Lions Bay to Porteau Cove, three lanes from Porteau Cove to Squamish, four lanes from Squamish to Culliton Creek and three lanes the rest of the way to Whistler.

For the Olympics the rail bed would be paved from Lions bay to Porteau Cove, making 75 per cent of the Sea-to-Sky a three-lane highway.

According to the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation’s bid Book its $86.7 million transportation plan will move 70 per cent of Olymic spectators by bus every day along the highway to Squamish. From Squamish to Whistler 100 per cent will be bussed.

Thirty per cent of spectators will be ferried from cruise ship terminals in Vancouver and Richmond on 16 passenger-only ferries to Squamish. The trip is expected to take 43 minutes.

The ferry option must be part of the plan in case the Sea to Sky Highway has to be closed.