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The four-year squeeze

Corridor politicians say highway plans will devastate communities during construction, alternate route preferred Whistler council is scrambling to gather together key area stakeholders in an attempt to collectively examine the impacts of proposed upg

Corridor politicians say highway plans will devastate communities during construction, alternate route preferred

Whistler council is scrambling to gather together key area stakeholders in an attempt to collectively examine the impacts of proposed upgrades to Highway 99.

Those upgrades, which include four years of road closures on the Sea to Sky Highway, could have a dramatic effect on the corridor communities.

Mayor Hugh O’Reilly said the municipality is trying to gauge community reaction and determine if there is consensus on any one option.

"What we need to do is understand what they are proposing, what is the mitigation, what do we think the impact is," O’Reilly said.

"We need more information and we need to do that very, very quickly so that we can actually have some influence on the outcome."

The municipality will develop a framework for how all stakeholders will receive the same information about upgrading the highway that was recently presented by the Ministry of Transportation.

There are plans for a community forum so that Whistler residents are fully engaged in the process. A survey may also be circulated.

"At the end of six weeks of consultation we should be able to have what we think is a fair, representative community opinion on the proposal," said O’Reilly.

The quick community consultation comes on the heels of last week’s Ministry of Transportation presentation, detailing three main options for upgrading the highway.

The ministry said a final decision is due in the fall.

The seemingly preferred government scenario of widening the existing highway to three lanes (four lanes in some areas) will result in 12 hour closures, four days a week over the course of four years.

The road will be closed for eight hours during the night and four hours during the day, according to Peter Milburn, project director for the Sea to Sky Corridor with the Ministry of Transportation.

Even without the formal government studies, corridor councillors know that major road closures on the Sea to Sky highway could devastate businesses and communities.

"We believe there are other answers," said Squamish Mayor Corinne Lonsdale.

"Squamish council is very concerned about the impact of the closures that are required," she said.

Doug Blakey, a Pemberton councillor, heard the ministry’s presentation on Tuesday night at a council meeting.

"Businesses can’t stand closures," said Blakey who has lived in the corridor for the past 30 years.

He recalled a major rockslide in the canyon about seven years ago. The road was completely closed for three days, followed by intermittent shutdowns in the ensuing days, he said.

As president of the Pemberton Golf Club, he knows first hand the dramatic impact the closures had on local businesses.

"It just killed us."

He shudders to think of the impact of closures over the course of four years.

"You can just imagine Joe Blow with his little T-shirt shop in Whistler or whatever small shops here. These guys will be dead. There will be all new people there in five years. The businesses won’t survive. And likewise in Pemberton and likewise in Squamish."

People choose not to make the drive from the Lower Mainland when faced with uncertain road conditions, he said.

Lonsdale is concerned about commuter traffic in Squamish. Many residents travel south to Vancouver daily and others make the journey north to work in Whistler.

"They don’t all work from nine to five so I’m not sure what these closures might mean to shift workers," she said.

"It could be absolutely untenable for them."

A road toll would also unmanageable for many Squamish commuters, she said.

"They could no more afford that than fly to the moon," she said.

"It’s wrong. There should be no toll when it’s our only access."

Both Lonsdale and Blakey support an alternate route.

There are three alternate routes that have been examined by the government, the Indian Arm route, the Seymour route and the Capilano route. All go through watersheds that provide the drinking water to the Lower Mainland. They also wind through First Nations land, provincial parks, and cross avalanche paths.

"We were taken aback by the cost of some of the alternate routes," said Blakey.

"I know there is some real bad country back in there."

But expanding Highway 99 is just a Band-Aid solution, he said.

"That to me is just pouring good money after bad."

He said he has no preference for the alternate route just as long as it doesn’t bottleneck in Vancouver.

Until the final decision is made in the fall, Lonsdale said corridor residents and councils must stick together in opposition of the preferred changes for Highway 99.

"It’s much better and much stronger if we move forward in an united fashion," she said.

In a perfect world O’Reilly also supports an alternate route but he said they all need more information on the various proposals. The recent meeting was just the first cut.

He said: "I think we have to work closely with the province to see what’s reality for them and what’s our reality."