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Seat to Sky Highway communities want to revisit alternate routes options

Communities along Highway 99 want any highway upgrade solution to be for the long term.

Communities along Highway 99 want any highway upgrade solution to be for the long term.

For Squamish and Lions Bay that means taking another look at alternate routes, either up Indian Arm or through the Capilano watershed, before making a commitment to how much faster, more efficient travel can be accomplished in the corridor.

"We need to focus in on what the best solution is," said Paul Lalli, acting mayor in Squamish.

"If the best solution is an alternate route then we need to put the time into that.

"And if the province doesn’t see that as the best solution then we need to sit down and see how we can mitigate possible closures and these sort of things."

The Ministry of Transportation is currently consulting on four options for the Sea to Sky Highway, ranging from safety upgrades to a four-lane highway all the way from Vancouver to Whistler.

If a new highway is constructed it is likely the road will face closures of four hours each day, eight hours each night, for four days a week during three seasons for four years.

Lalli is pleased the province is seriously looking at improving transport to his community, which he believes is poised for growth.

A new university is in the works, and the community plan predicts population growth up to 30,000 in the long term.

"I fully commend the province for looking at putting some capital investment into the highway system, that is something that is long overdue," said Lalli.

"Squamish has a huge bank of land that is primarily ideal for single family units. It has a huge potential for higher density living in the downtown and so I really look at Squamish as poised and ready to explode over the next 10 to 20 years.

"We are moving forward knowing that Squamish is going to become more urbanized and we are ready for the growth and we are definitely wanting it.

"We are in a great location between Vancouver and Whistler so we know that growth is inevitable."

Squamish has taken the position that its first choice for an upgrade is to have access through Indian Arm.

But currently the province has ruled out alternate routes, as those studied either pass through provincial parks, have significant landslide and avalanche risk, threaten Vancouver watersheds and all are very expensive.

"We definitely appreciate any investment in the corridor, but our first option would be an alternate route in Indian Arm because it would alleviate any possible closures to the existing highway," said Lalli.

"The closures would have a significant impact because the highway is our life line in and out of the Lower Mainland."

Squamish has a large population base which commutes to Vancouver daily and businesses get nearly all their goods by truck.

Lalli also points out that it might be possible to scale back the highway in an alternate route to two lanes, thereby saving money.

"Maybe a two lane alternate and a two lane Sea to Sky is all we need," said Lalli.

"We want an option that works for all of us," he said.

Corridor communities are under the gun as the province is pushing ahead with consultation so they can choose an option in time to be included in the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation’s bid book. This document outlines the Corporations plans in detail to the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC must receive the document in January of 2003.

"We need something that is going to work for our future generations," said Lalli.

"We are willing to put in the time to work with the province to develop the right solution.

"We want to obviously get something in to the Bid Book and if that means us all taking time and making that our number one priority I think we are all willing to do that."

Squamish, like all communities up and down the corridor, opposes any kind of tolling on the highway.

"Really, I believe that our community would support civil disobedience on the toll issue and I don’t think we should go that route," said Lions Bay Mayor Brenda Broughton.

"We are entirely opposed to tolling."

Broughton said her community is very concerned about plans to upgrade the highway to three or four lanes.

The community would be severely impacted as it straddles the highway. For years Lions Bay has been involved in safety programs to lower speed and encourage safe driving.

Broughton takes some comfort from ministry plans to use concept sensitive models of highway construction to reduce speed and improve safety and consider community needs. But overall putting a four-lane road through Lions Bay is not a preferred choice.

"This is a very sensitive issue for our community," said Broughton.

"We have grave concerns about the impact any serious highway work might have on Lions Bay.

"When you look at our Official Community Plan… it really talks to the village like environment and it being very ground-oriented.

"And when you look at the impact of those closures, they are going to be so profound."

Lions Bay itself is not in a growth stage said Broughton so servicing it with a new highway is unnecessary. But the mayor accepts that is not the case for other communities further up the highway.

Furry Creek continues to develop and there are several parcels of land, which in the past have been looked at for development, including lands around Britannia Beach.

SLRD Area C (north of Whistler) director Susan Gimse said the district expects to see growth in these areas in the future.

"There are several large parcels of land in that area that developers have been looking at and currently the zoning is being looked at to see how to accommodate that," she said.

"In terms of impact on the highway that would be the area that we would focus on so that development in that part of the region can be supported by the highway infrastructure."

Most growth is currently occurring within municipal boundaries said Gimse.

In Pemberton that is likely to remain the case as much of the outlying area is in the agricultural land reserve.

Gimse is also concerned that the ministry’s highway upgrade options end at Whistler.

"I see that as a key flaw, that they did not consider the future growth of this area," she said.

"They say it is a highway plan for Highway 99 and that goes from Horseshoe bay to Pemberton, but there is absolutely nothing in that plan that addresses highway upgrades from Whistler to Pemberton.

"(The ministry’s) response was that they don’t really have a lot of volume there and we don’t have too many problems.

"I pointed out that this is a long term plan for 25-50 years and we are going to see significant growth and this is long term plan for our corridor. Why have we not addressed the section between Whistler and Pemberton?

"And ‘suicide hill’ is the site of many accidents and it was not addressed in their plan either."