Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Gates cost $17,000 to maintain over two years.

The price of gates may be too much for Whistler.

The price of gates may be too much for Whistler.

A three-question survey of White Gold-Spruce Grove and Blueberry-Whistler Cay residents being done by the municipality states maintenance of the two traffic gates that separate these neighbourhoods totalled approximately $17,000 in 1999 and 2000.

The maintenance costs are so high because the gates are frequently vandalized. According to the municipal survey, the White Gold-Spruce Grove gate is inoperable for approximately 70-85 per cent of the time. The Blueberry-Whistler Cay gate is inoperable about 15-20 per cent of the time.

The gates were installed in response to concerns raised by area residents, who feared the linking of the Blueberry-Whistler Cay and White Gold-Spruce Grove would increase traffic in their neighbourhoods. The gates are intended to prevent through traffic, although municipal buses are permitted. Drivers of buses and emergency vehicles can raise the gates electronically.

The survey asks if residents support the continued use of gates as a method to control traffic in their neighbourhoods. It also asks if residents are interested in other traffic-calming measures in their neighbourhoods.

Whistler council received a petition from Spruce Grove residents at their June 4 meeting, requesting that the gate between White Gold and Spruce Grove be removed.

Councillor Nick Davies proposed a motion at the June 18 council meeting that the Spruce Grove gate be removed. The motion failed when no council member would second it.

If a majority of surveys indicate an interest in alternative traffic control measures, such as raised crosswalks, a plan will be drafted for residents' and council's review.

For more information, contact Steve Black, manager of transportation and drainage at 935-8194.