Heidi VanLith
Special to The Chief
Drivers can expect up to 30-minute delays on the Sea-to-Sky highway starting this month and daily road closures beginning in April.
Highway widening preparations planned for 樱桃视频begin early this month as the $600 million Sea-to-Sky Improvement Project is ahead of schedule and has entered into a fixed price contract for construction costs from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler, said Executive Project Director Peter Milburn.
Crew sites, drilling, and land clearing at Furry Creek, Gonzales Creek, Rubble Creek, and areas just north of the Cheakamus Canyon will cause delays in travel this month with more delays through to 2009 as construction continues.
"We've been working over winter in Furry Creek and starting this week we will begin land clearing. We'll be doing some rock work and this will cause some of the delays we're anticipating," said Milburn. "We'll be working at Industrial Way in 樱桃视频as the District of 樱桃视频asked us to start early to accommodate the business growth in the area."
Road closures are scheduled to begin in late April for up to two hours Mondays through Thursdays during the daytime and up to four hours at night. Closures are necessary to meet the completion goal of 2010.
S2S Transportation Group, the contractors responsible for highway upgrades, has been offered financial incentives by the Ministry of Transportation (MoT) to achieve their project schedule. These incentives include traffic management payments that are payable only if the contactor sticks to the proposed road closure schedule, without increasing closures and delays.
"We realize that there is no alternate corridor for people living here and we've spent a long time consulting with the communities to determine the best times to close the roads," said Milburn. "Our emphasis is on keeping traffic moving, especially at rush times."
A complete schedule of closures and delays is available at . The Sea-to-Sky Improvement Project has also launched a toll-free number with live operators to answer questions from drivers at 1-888-4SAFE99.
"We also have a trip planner on website that recommends the times to leave that are better than others," said Milburn. "The maximum delay between 樱桃视频and Horseshoe Bay is thirty minutes; reduce that even further if you have more flexible travel time."
Preliminary Design Consultation meetings are proposed for April and May in the 樱桃视频area to gather information and inform the community of improvement plans.
Consultations at Britannia Beach have recently wrapped up and Milburne said the community appears to be pleased with the results.
"There's minimal impact, the construction is similar in design to what's already in existence," said Milburne adding that the project involves design process called Context Sensitive Design that allows construction to take place that is not obtrusive to the landsape. "Our goal is to make this highway look like it belongs in the mountains."
To date, S2S has completed a 1-km section south of Lions Bay and a new 7-km four-lane from Ansell Place to Lions Bay. The $39-million Ansell Place upgrade, scheduled to be complete in 2007 was finished in 2005, 18 months earlier than planned.The Sea-to-Sky Highway carries an estimated 13,700 vehicles a day and averages 300 road accidents each year. The upgrades and safety improvements are supposed to result in 30 percent fewer accidents by improving sightlines and eliminating sharp curves, widening roads and shoulders, safer intersections, traffic flow, and installing meridian barriers to prevent cross-over accidents.
"The whole project is subject to Federal and Provincial investigation," said Milburn, reassuring that every aspect of safety and environmental concerns have been covered.
"We had to go through two years of investigations that came with very specific obligations, actually thirty-two pages called a Table of Commitments."
In the Table of Commitments, environmental concerns are clearly documented including effects on waterways, wildlife and fish habitats, vegetation, re-use of removed rock, run-offs, and emergency and preventative plans to name a few.
"We have to be cautious of stream crossings to make sure we don't interfere," assured Milburn. "In regards to wildlife issues we've made provisions for their movement like installing amphibian tunnels under the roads."
Water swales are being installed at Larson Creek. Milburn said that the swales will improve the water quality.Private land is still being purchased along the corridor to facilitate highway improvements.
"We've had a lot of property purchases that we've done and have purchased almost all the land that is required," said Milburn. "We work under legislation to work with property owners to get the land we need through fair compensation."
For more information about project plans or to keep posted on road closures and delays, visit www.seatoskyimprovements.ca.
