Efforts to widen and upgrade the section of highway from Function Junction to Whistler Village wrapped up for the season on Saturday, and operations will resume when weather conditions allow in the spring.
To date the work has consisted of installing a Hydro duct line and manholes along the east side of the highway, excavating trenches on the side of the road, installing the ducts, backfilling the ditches and repairing the highway.
The $9.8 million project, which is expected to be completed by fall of 2009, will widen the shoulders of the highway, widen the lanes of the highway at curves, improves the intersection at Function Junction and enlarge two bus pullouts. As well, four new bus pullouts will be installed and Nordic Hill will be re-graded to conform to provincial standards.
Wider shoulders will be safer for cyclists using the highway, and can be used to move stuck vehicles aside during snowstorms.
As well, the Ministry of Transportation may decide to run three lanes of traffic on the highway during the 2010 Games. A new section of Valley Trail connecting Spring Creek to Cheakamus Crossing could also be created.
