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Yet another storm causes highway chaos

Motorists, RCMP peeved with traffic gridlock
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A semi-trailer that crashed on Jan. 5 at Culliton Creek bridge burst into flames and burned. Photo by Maureen Provencal

By Vivian Moreau

Poorly equipped vehicles in a Jan. 5 snowstorm that dumped half a metre of snow in one day are being blamed for Sea to Sky accidents and gridlock that made for slow going between Squamish and Whistler.

Whistler resident Karl Ricker was doubly jinxed after leaving his home at 8:30 a.m. on Friday only to be halted in Cheakamus Canyon because of an accident at the Culliton Creek Bridge. A south-bound semi trailer carrying produce lost control, flipped and then burst into flames, bringing traffic to a standstill as well as slicing a temporary Telus fibre optic cable carrying Internet service to Whistler. Returning from West Vancouver that same day Ricker again hit traffic troubles when an accident in Nordic backed late evening traffic up for kilometres.

Ricker, who drives a Subaru Forester on four snow tires, blames poor road maintenance and motorists travelling without snow tires for traffic woes.

“They (highway maintenance contractors) have some harebrained idea of using salt instead of sand,” he said. “They have to use sand and fine grit on this highway.”

The retired geologist said after proceeding through the Culliton Creek Bridge accident vehicles had a difficult time ascending the next hill because highway maintenance crews “had not put one grain of sand or grit on the road to prevent accidents — it was like driving on ball bearings.”

Miller Capilano Maintenance Corporation is responsible for keeping roads clear from Function Junction to Horseshoe Bay. Operations manager Larry Paradis said the company’s 12 trucks most certainly do sand the highway. Paradis said at the front end of storms salt is put down “like a brine sandwich so it cleans up better and you don’t get as much snow pack.” If storm conditions continue sand is spread. But Paradis believes the problem is with motorists ill equipped to handle Highway 99 winter conditions, who then block traffic.

“We’ve had to work with the police in holding traffic back and then going up the wrong side of the road and coming in ahead of the traffic.”

Cpl. Dave Ritchie of Squamish RCMP said a local advisory committee of community leaders has been lobbying the provincial Ministry of Transportation to have Highway 99 designated a mountain or winter highway, making snow tires or chains mandatory in winter conditions.

“We’ve been asking for years to have the highway designated as a winter highway to get better compliance on tires,” he said.

But the Ministry of Transportation insists that category of designation does not exist.

“Under the Motor Vehicle Act, the RCMP can pull cars over that don’t have proper tires — there is already a means within the Motor Vehicle Act to do that,” ministry spokesperson Susan Williams said. “But mostly we just try and encourage people to use common sense. If you’re driving to Whistler you can expect snow.”

At a Jan. 5 Alice Lake road check Squamish RCMP did stop and turn back vehicles that weren’t properly equipped to handle winter highway conditions. Ritchie said officers check for manufacturer marks that indicate tires as winter ready and also use gauges to check tire depths. But he said the process is complicated by a wide variety in tread designs that make some all season tires acceptable for winter conditions but not others. He added that car rental agencies shouldn’t be allowing vehicles with poor all season tires to head up to Whistler.

“You’re renting to people that have never driven in snow and then you give them a poor tire and it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Ritchie said. “If one or two of them get stuck then the jam starts and we can’t even get plows through.”

That was the situation Friday night in Whistler.

Telus executive Maureen Daschuk had made it through the Alice Lake check point in her snow-tired Subaru but then ran into a bottleneck at Pinecrest that took two hours to clear. The Vancouver to Whistler drive that normally takes Dashuck two hours stretched into five.

“I just decided there was nothing you could do,” she said. “(I told myself to) just remain calm, keep my eyes open for people around me and you’ll get home eventually.”

Rimrock Café owner Bob Dawson said road conditions put more of a cramp in his restaurant’s business that evening than the eight-hour Internet outage earlier that day that was repaired by 4 p.m.

“We lost over 50 reservations Friday night because people couldn’t get from the village to here,” Dawson said. “Here we are a major ski resort, our road is only 7 km long and we can’t keep it clear?”

Dawson’s loss was Canadian Tire’s and automotive supplier NAPA’s gain. The two Squamish businesses benefited from motorists who came in looking for tire chains after being turned back by RCMP at the Alice Lake road check.

Canadian Tire sold about 30 sets of chains within two hours, said automotive manager Les Szmadyla. Nearby NAPA sold more than half its stock, about 40 sets, manager Roy Ramage said. Both stores had more supply in stock within days.

“Motorists need to be prepared when they leave home,” Ramage said. “All season tires aren’t good enough — you have to have winter tires for Sea to Sky snow.”