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Segway plans roll back into town

If Caterina Alberti's business idea is a success there will be Segways on the Valley Trail by the summertime. "I believe the Segway HT will be a perfect fit (with Whistler)," she said Monday.

If Caterina Alberti's business idea is a success there will be Segways on the Valley Trail by the summertime.

"I believe the Segway HT will be a perfect fit (with Whistler)," she said Monday.

The two-wheeled battery-powered human transporter is billed as a revolutionary way to move humans.

Alberti's plan is to operate the Segway business under an existing tour operator in Whistler. Guests will be able to rent a Segway in the village, roll it out of the village past the conference centre and cruise along the Valley Trail around the Whistler Golf Course.

All the guests will have in-depth safety training before they operate the machine, she said.

The business is still in the planning stages at this point. Alberti went before Whistler councillors on Monday night to give them notice of her plans to get a license to operate a Segway business and to measure support for her project.

"I just wanted to make sure that everyone was on board," she said.

Last July council approved a six-week trial period for a Segway business owner from Vancouver, with a stipulation that the machines could only go in the areas where bikes were allowed. For example, the Segways could not be ridden in the pedestrian village.

The trial period did not go ahead due to time constraints.

Mayor Hugh O'Reilly and Councillor Kristi Wells expressed concern about over-crowding on the Valley Trail and said they would want to ensure that the Segways are compatible with other users.

Wells said if a Segway trial period is successful that doesn't mean a Segway business could be a success in Whistler.

"(It's) prudent to say that there are other concerns," said Wells.

Alberti is spending the week in New Hampshire for a training session on the Segways.

Aussie firefighter gets Whistler welcome

Whistler council officially welcomed an Australian firefighter to the local fire service this week.

Greg Blackman from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Melbourne is on a one-year exchange with Whistler firefighter Brian Buchholz.

"It's a great honour to be selected for the fellowship position," Blackman told council on Monday night.

Blackman and his wife arrived in Whistler on Jan. 17 and two days later Buchholz and his family left for Melbourne.

This is the first international exchange for a Whistler firefighter.

Fire Chief Bruce Hall said all the credit for setting up the exchange lies with Buchholz, who heard about the program through a colleague in the North Vancouver District.

The exchange offers insight into how fire services operate in other communities said Hall.

Melbourne's program has been in place for a decade and Australian firefighters have been on exchanges in the U.S., Ireland, Eastern Canada and now Whistler.

Throughout the year exchange Buchholz will remain a Whistler employee and Blackman will continue to be an employee of the Melbourne Fire Brigade.

Mayor Hugh O'Reilly welcomed Blackman to the community, adding that he would probably feel comfortable in Whistler with a number of his fellow countrymen already in the community.

Council seeks clarity on highway barrier

A concrete barrier dividing Highway 99 would mean more money and longer delays during construction.

This message was delivered to council on Monday night by Brian Barnett, general manager of engineering and public works, after a letter to the municipality called for action on the matter.

"I would like to stimulate some action form the leaders of the corridor to help bring about changes to the current highway upgrade plans," wrote Paul Shore.

"Only a barrier will significantly reduce head-on collisions, which as we have seen recently are what cause the majority of deaths."

The calls for a divided highway have been louder ever since a head-on collision Jan. 31 killed seven men. The crash happened on an open stretch of road in Squamish.

Barnett explained it would take almost five lanes to accommodate a divider down the highway.

There must be two lanes on each side of the divider in case there is an accident or a stalled car. In addition the divider itself takes up space.

Barnett said the Ministry of Transportation looked at a four-lane freeway option when it was first assessing upgrade plans on Highway 99.

That option, which could have accommodated a barrier, cost $1.8 billion and would have meant 12 hour closures a day for four days a week over three seasons. Construction would have lasted six years.

Barnett said that option was rejected by and large in the community because it would have negatively impacted business in the resort.

Instead the Ministry of Transportation is pursuing a three-lane upgraded highway, which becomes four lanes in certain areas. This will cost $600 million.

"This design that is being put forward now is primarily intended to improve safety," said Barnett.

Some of those safety improvements include straightening some of the bends as well as making the bends more consistent. There will also be regular passing lanes.

He added that there is probably an opportunity for a barrier in some places in the future.

Shore wrote that he would like to see a divided highway in place after the Olympics.

"The Olympics require flexibility... I'll even accept that we have to wait until the spring of 2010 to see the wall put in place, but not longer!"