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The forgotten subdivision

I’ve never stepped into a bullring to do battle with an enraged animal more than 10 times my weight, but I’ve got a pretty good idea what it feels like.

I’ve never stepped into a bullring to do battle with an enraged animal more than 10 times my weight, but I’ve got a pretty good idea what it feels like.

Every morning I have to get from my home in Spring Creek to the Pique office in Function Junction. It’s only a 20 minute walk, but it’s taking years off my life.

That’s because most of the time my only option is to walk along the side of the highway, as cars, trucks and buses pass by a little too closely for comfort. When a plow comes I have no choice but to jump into the waist-deep snowbank — the drivers make it quite clear with their urgent honks that they’re not turning aside for anybody.

To avoid all the fear and unpleasantness I started snowshoeing to work at the start of the winter, which I loved doing. But then the plows came along again and cut the snowbanks on the side of the highway into such a steep pyramid that it’s become impossible to walk that way anymore.

Which leaves the slippery and narrow shoulder of the highway, where I’m basically at the mercy of people that drive too fast, cut corners, or sometimes have nowhere to go because the cars in the oncoming lane don’t think to pull over a little bit to create some room when they see a pedestrian.

There is no southbound bus service to Function Junction from Spring Creek, or I’d be on it. There was a bus stop for a few weeks, but it was removed because it was deemed unsafe for buses to merge with highway traffic at current speeds or for pedestrians taking the bus to cross the highway. Apparently the current situation is much safer.

There is no Valley Trail to Function Junction, and the only walking trail takes about three times longer than the highway. If there’s snow, breaking trail takes even longer than that. If I wanted a 40-minute commute I’d live in Squamish or Pemberton.

One of the reasons we moved to employee housing in Spring Creek in the first place was that it was close to work for my wife and myself and we wouldn’t need to rely on a car to get around. We were thinking and acting sustainably. Who knew that also meant putting my life at risk?

Trust me when I say that I’m not exaggerating the danger, as I have at least one close call with a vehicle almost every day where if I stuck my arm out it would be clipped off at the elbow. The highway is also slippery enough some days that one wrong step could literally launch me under the wheels of a truck.

And I’m not the only person out there walking. I’m guessing there are maybe a dozen Spring Creek residents who walk the highway to Function every day. One Bear Ridge resident I talked to even resorted to taking the bus north a stop and then crossing the highway to take a southbound bus to Function. She only did it once because she found that it took too long, and that she had to pay for a second bus ride — in Whistler, bus transfers are one-way only.

There are a few easy solutions to the problem. The first, and most obvious, is to lower the highway speed limit to 60 km/h all the way through Whistler. If the speed can be lowered to the second entrance of Emerald, then it can be lowered to the lights at Function Junction.

There are a lot of reasons this makes sense — Spring Creek has an elementary school, daycare, and employee housing. It’s no longer a rural or industrial area, but a residential area. Furthermore, the Athletes’ Village is going to add even more residents to the south end of Whistler that could also benefit from a lower highway speed.

Lowering the speed limit would allow for a southbound bus stop — something residents also need to get home from the village. Right now there is only sporadic service to Spring Creek, otherwise residents have to tale the bus all the way to Function Junction, get out, and wait 10 minutes or more to catch the next bus going north. We do get transfers for that, but it’s still ridiculous.

A slower speed limit would also make it easier for cars to turn onto the highway from Spring Creek. The way things are now, with most vehicles travelling well above the posted 80 km limit, it’s too late to turn onto the highway the moment you see a vehicle coming.

The municipal transportation plan would add a southbound merging lane to the highway at that intersection, which would let you pull out of Spring Creek if the northbound lane is clear, but I would strongly advise against this — highway lines are pretty much invisible most of the winter, and hard to see at night and during rainstorms. Putting stopped cars in the middle of the road, in a merge lane marked by faded yellow lines, is a recipe for a disaster.

Another potential solution to the problem, which is already being considered, is a Valley Trail connector from Spring Creek to the lights at Function Junction. Looking at the terrain, it’s not going to be easy or cheap to build and I’m fairly sure any trail is going to be years away.

There are also plans to connect Spring Creek and Bayshores by road, and run the southbound bus through the neighbourhood, but that’s also going to be years away.

The last option would be to install traffic lights at that intersection, which may be the safest idea but I don’t think anybody wants to see any more traffic stoppages through the resort.

Which brings me back to the first option — lowering the speed of the highway. I’ve done the math on this and found that lowering the speed limit 20 km/h from Alta Lake Road to Function Junction would slow traffic through that section by all of 26 seconds. At the same time it would allow for a southbound bus stop, and safer merges for Spring Creek residents. It would also make a road connecting Spring Creek and Bayshores unnecessary.

I’ve already sent a letter to the Ministry of Transportation explaining this, via the municipality, but have yet to hear back.

Until then, I guess I’m stuck playing matador. Olé!