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Delays, closures for Highway 99 drivers

Funding finally granted for Culliton Creek to Cheakamus Canyon upgrades Sea to Sky drivers travelling south of Whistler will have to plan their road trips in advance for the next year and a half or face highway delays of up to 30 minutes.

Funding finally granted for Culliton Creek to Cheakamus Canyon upgrades

Sea to Sky drivers travelling south of Whistler will have to plan their road trips in advance for the next year and a half or face highway delays of up to 30 minutes.

In just over three months the long-awaited road work is set to begin on the treacherous seven kilometre stretch of blacktop between Culliton Creek and the Cheakamus Canyon.

Although the construction will ultimately improve future driving conditions with the addition of a third lane for the uphill sections, there will be delays and closures while crews blast rock from the high walls that confine the narrow section of highway.

"The message is going to be that we’re doing everything humanly possible to impact as few people as possible," said Dan Mayberry, stakeholder liaison for the Sea to Sky project with the Ministry of Transportation.

Mayberry presented the construction schedule, which is designed to fit around the needs of the local community, at Monday’s council meeting.

Until the end of 2004 there will be three 20-minute stoppages on the road four days a week while crews blast rock. Drivers can expect the stoppages each after 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. The stoppages will only take place from Monday to Thursday.

"We want everybody to know that we recognize that if traffic is stopped for 20 minutes that could mean that the actual delay in your travel time is a half hour or greater by the time the queue gets going and from the congestion that results," said Mayberry.

"So we would ask people to allow extra travel time during those hours or, if they can, try to time it so that they can hit the project site in the off construction hours."

During the summer months, specifically June and July which have the longest daylight hours, there may be evening closures beginning at 8 p.m. and continuing throughout the night until 6 a.m. These closures could last up to four hours with two-hour breaks in between to allow shift workers to move back and forth.

"That’s when the crews can do their blasting in the evening and really get some production underway so (they can) make hay while the sun shines, literally," said Mayberry.

But taking into account the nature of a resort town like Whistler, there will be no delays or stoppages during the winter months. From December through February there will be a blackout period on rock blasting. In addition, all Canadian and American holidays throughout the year will not be impacted by delays.

Mayberry said the 20-minute stoppages would not impact the large majority of drivers on the highway, especially once they are informed of the delays. He said only 2.2 per cent of trips would be affected, adding that the Ministry of Transportation had good results in Kicking Horse Canyon and the Victoria approaches using 20-minute stoppages during construction.

The Culliton Creek-Cheakamus Canyon project, which is set to begin in mid-April and last until mid-2005, is a regional safety project that has been in the pipeline for a number of years. The funding for the upgrade only came through recently.

It is not part of the $600-million major upgrade of the Sea to Sky highway that is needed prior to 2010 if Vancouver wins the right to host the Olympics.

"It is separate but it is certainly going to be constructed in co-ordination with the other Sea to Sky improvements if and when they get the go ahead," said Mayberry.

"(For example) things like trying to time it so this project ends before the impact stages of projects to the south begin. So there will be a lot of co-ordination. But this is going ahead regardless of any of the decisions further down the road."

The seven kilometre area is renowned among Sea to Sky highway travellers as a particularly dangerous pathway with a high accident rate and difficult driving conditions, including tight hilly curves.

In those seven kilometres north of the Big Orange Bridge, or BOB as it is more commonly known around town, there are on average 17 crashes each year.

In fact, the Culliton Creek-Cheakamus Canyon section of Highway 99 is the only section between Squamish and Whistler that hasn’t been significantly realigned or upgraded since the highway was built in 1964.

In the late 1990s the Ministry of Transportation was investigating the feasibility of a four-lane highway on that stretch of road. But after going back to the drawing board, particularly after listening to the community’s concerns, the ministry developed a "context-sensitive" design.

This design uses visual clues to play tricks on drivers, which make them check their speed. It also keeps the lanes narrow to encourage people to drive slower.

Mayberry calls the context-design concept the "best of both worlds," harmonizing the wishes of the ministry with the wishes of the local population and Whistler stakeholders.

"We’re not ruining the landscape but we are making it safer and not promoting a lot of speed," Mayberry said after the council meeting.

"We’re also getting rid of that driver frustration; getting caught behind a slow vehicle makes people take unnecessary chances. And so we’re pretty pleased with the culmination of the consultation feedback we’ve gotten."

A construction company will be awarded the project in late March, after bids are received next month. The contractor will operate on a reward and penalty basis to ensure they adhere to the stoppage schedule.

Mayberry added that there would be an intensive advertising campaign to keep travellers up to date on the construction schedule.

"So for those people who have irregular schedules we would just ask that they keep themselves informed of what the construction schedule is and that will certainly be an easy task because we’ll be communicating this very clearly in advance for people to know," he said.

Mayor Hugh O’Reilly commented that the project has changed dramatically since the first time it was presented to council.

He added that it might be a little painful for drivers but for the most part he said it would be well received.

While this project has waited for funding, work started last fall on twinning the Culliton Creek Bridge.