Traffic will slow to 30 kilometres per hour through Creekside over the next five months as Intrawest starts a long-awaited project to realign Whistler Creek.
Set to begin in less than two weeks, the company is scooping out a hole under the highway, providing a link between the east and west sides of Creekside.
The hollowed out passage will realign Whistler Creek so it can flow in a straight line from the north side of The Legends under the highway to Beaver Flats, where it will join up with Little Whistler Creek.
Rerouting Whistler Creek will effectively accommodate the flood flows of that waterway.
"It’s always been a concern for us," said Joe Paul, manager of development services in the municipality’s engineering department.
"Right now the alignment is not as good as it could be.
"Under the current regime Whistler Creek turns south and goes through a few culverts by the Husky."
Another bonus to the project is that Creekside residents won’t have to make the mad dash across the highway anymore because the Valley Trail will run next to the creek under the highway.
"This completes one of the last segments of the Valley Trail system," said Paul.
"You’ll be able to take the Valley Trail from the new Spring Creek school to Emerald."
The complicated project will span the summer months and is scheduled to wrap up by mid-September.
In order to dig under the highway, Intrawest must build a bridge at the highway level to support the construction. The bridge will go in close to the London Lane intersection, next to the PetroCanada station.
"The strange thing about this bridge... is usually when you build a bridge you’re building it over something," said Matt Portman, land development manager with the Intrawest Resort Development Group.
"This is not an overpass like you would see at Nordic... It’s on grade with the highway so there will be no difference to your drive over London Lane, other than a minor realignment," added Portman.
Intrawest is building a separate road on the PetroCanada side of the highway to accommodate the construction work
"What we’re trying to do is just mimic the highway," said Portman.
"In order for us to mitigate the impact on traffic we’re spending the money to build this extra road."
Portman said drivers will have to reduce their speeds going through the construction zone but there are not likely to be any major delays or traffic stoppages.
"There’s a reduced speed through construction zones as is but you experience the most traffic backup when you limit your traffic to one lane, where you have alternating traffic flow," explained Portman.
"But here we have two lanes at all times."
Once the first stage of the project is complete and the steel support beams for the bridge have been installed on the west side of the highway, traffic will then move back to the original highway and Intrawest will get rid of the temporary road.
Work will then start for the east side of the highway to connect the bridge.
"It’s a pretty complicated little project but it’s one that’s going to be a big benefit to Creekside," said Portman.
"It’s definitely going to be an improvement... The new creek alignment is going to be a nice visual and the convenience of having a Valley Trail connecting two side of the highway is a big plus."
The project has been a long time in coming for the municipality.
"As far as we’re concerned we wanted to see this done two years ago," said Paul.
"We’re glad to see it proceed this year."
The underpass was part of the Whistler South Comprehensive Development Strategy drafted in 1997-1998.
A deal struck between the municipality and Intrawest called for the underpass to be built as part of an occupancy permit for the First Tracks Lodge at Creekside.
They were delayed in their construction however because of a fuel leak at the nearby PetroCanada station.
"It is in the process of being cleaned up by PetroCanada," said Portman.
"They have put a remediation plan into effect."
Even though work is still being done to clean up the site, Intrawest is going ahead with its plans to build the underpass.
"We’re going to dig the alignment for the creek but we’re not going to reroute the creek itself," said Portman.
"It would be irresponsible to reroute the creek into a contaminated site."
And so, as soon as the site is clean, Intrawest will open up the new path to the creek under the highway and cut off the old path towards the culverts near the Husky station.
The highway work is just part of a series of ongoing projects at Creekside.
There will be new lane alignments and a new paint job at the Lake Placid Road intersection and at the London Lane intersection, drivers will not be able to make a left-hand turn to go south to Vancouver any longer.
The company is also building a multi-level parkade with over 1,000 day skier parking stalls. This parkade will also service the Franz’s Trail project, which includes a handful commercial spaces, among them a proposed grocery store, liquor store and bank.
