Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Sliding centre raises access, safety issues

Public gets first look at design of Olympic bobsleigh, luge, skeleton facility

Locals voiced concerns over road and pedestrian safety, power usage, and cost at a recently held open house on the design of the proposed Olympic Sliding Centre on Blackcomb Mountain.

"They have thought through the actual facility itself very well but they haven’t gone further to say what is the impact," said Peter Estlin of Pinnacle Ridge, a community off Glacier Drive, which leads to the site of the sliding centre.

Estlin was not alone in his concerns. Several people questioned officials at the open house, hosted by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics as part of the environmental review process, as to why the plan did not include a review and perhaps upgrade of Glacier Drive, a dead-end switchback road which leads from Blackcomb Way up Blackcomb Mountain to Base II

Top of mind was the risk posed to pedestrians by all the extra traffic the sliding centre development will bring to the area.

As part of the deal with Intrawest, VANOC has agreed to increase the size of parking lots seven and eight at Base II.

Currently, said Estlin, there is no sidewalk along the road so the many people who make their way on foot up and down the mountain walk on the side of the road. In treacherous conditions that can lead to accidents.

"In terms of Whistler as a whole it is probably one of the worst roads and it is going to lead to more deaths and injuries and I just don’t think they have considered this," he said.

Estlin, reached after the meeting for his comments, was not alone in his concerns.

"I personally have picked up two young ladies off the road down there with broken limbs and taken them to the clinic over the past two years," said Dr. John Williams, also of Pinnacle Ridge.

The concerns over safety are not new and Williams and others have written to the municipality about them.

"I personally wrote and they have never responded," said Williams commenting last week.

"…That is disappointing because we are concerned about the community and we care about it. A lot of us are very involved in the community. I am one of the 50 members of the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and my wife teaches as a volunteer unpaid professional at the elementary school.

"I think this is something that must be addressed."

Williams said he was disappointed that the designers of the sliding centre did not take this into consideration during their planning.

Both VANOC spokeswomen Maureen Douglas, and the director of the environmental reviews, George McKay, welcomed the comments and said it was an issue they would look at.

"Safety is absolutely paramount to us," said Douglas.

Williams suggested that an eight to 12 foot sidewalk be built along the side of Glacier Drive. That way, pedestrians would have a safe path and should emergency vehicles need access they could use that route.

"Clearly the message is that we need to take a look at it from a safety perspective," said McKay.

Concerns were also raised about how construction vehicles would impact the traffic and people on the road.

But Douglas said the current plan is to have much of the heavy trucks and equipment compounded at the Sliding Centre site so they are not travelling up and down Glacier Drive.

The long-term viability of the $55 million sliding centre, which will host bobsled, luge and skeleton events, was also questioned. Some were worried that the legacy fund, which will finance the centre after the Games, would not be enough.

But McKay said VANOC had studied other sliding centres and looked at their long-term costs of upkeep and repair and those figures were used to help determine that the $110 million legacy fund was sufficient.

Douglas pointed out that even if the sliding centre’s operating costs after the Games were above those expected the taxpayers of Whistler would not foot the bill.

"The municipality does not have direct financial responsibility for the operation of the venue so that really protects the community," she said.

During the open house the audience learned that the sliding centre’s refrigeration plant and other operations would use up to 4 megawatts of power.

This week, however, Paul Shaflick, lead electrical designer for design-engineering firm Stantec, said usage would be closer to 1 to 2.3 megawatts of power depending on the season and the state of the track. In the fall when the refrigeration plant is on full getting the track iced, power usage would be at a maximum. In the summer usage would be much less.

B.C. Hydro estimates that about 1,000 homes can be powered by 1 megawatt of power. But Shaflick believes a more realistic estimate would have just over 250 houses powered by 1 megawatt of power.

Douglas said VANOC was committed to sustainability and had been working with Ledcor, a proponent of an independent power project on Fitzsimmons Creek. It is looking at putting its power project alongside the sliding centre, roughly following the snowcat access road which will be built as part of the development.

The sliding track will have four start positions: One for the men’s events, one for the women’s events, a junior start and start for tourists.

"It will be the most challenging track in the world," said Lorenz Kosichek of Stantec.

Construction of the track will start this summer and be finished for the winter of 2007/08. Its winter run will stretch from October to March.

It is hoped that tourist use will offset some of the operating costs of the track after the Games are over. Indeed, that was one of the motivating factors for locating it on Blackcomb Mountain.

Tourists can expect to reach speeds of up to 80 km/h as they hurtle down the track. Athletes will go as fast 139 km/h and experience a G-force of over 4.

A new switchback road will be built along the north side of the track to get people to and from the start points and service the area.

Kosichek said as little of the natural environment will be harmed as possible and indigenous plants will be used in extensive landscaping after the project is complete.

That said, the newly expanded parking lots would take over Lower Gear Jammer so that run will have to be shifted over. Ski in, ski out access will also be maintained.

During the Games all 12,000 spectators will be bussed into the venue and gather at a plaza at the bottom of the centre after being dropped in Lot 7.

The media, volunteers and other temporary needs would be looked after in Lot 8.

Future open houses will be held on the development.