A new Highway 99 exit allowing northbound travellers to pull into the Adventure Centre immediately after passing the building may be achieved as quickly as a few months from now.
On Tuesday (Oct. 17), Highway Improvement Project Director John Cavanagh said at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Squamish Valley Golf Club that the Ministry of Transportation is discussing the final plans for the exit ramp with the District of Squamish.
The district has been strongly lobbying the Ministry to build the exit to the Adventure Centre as part of the $600 million Sea to Sky improvement project in an effort to capture a much higher percentage of highway travellers.
"We've had discussions going on for quite some time and we're at a point now where it's close to taking place," said Mayor Ian Sutherland.
District representatives and tourism officials have long said that the unique architecture of the Adventure Centre attracts significant attention from the travelling public, but since they're well past the pull off by the time the structure is noticed, potential visitors pass it by. That may all change as soon as early 2007 and almost certainly by this summer, said Sutherland.
"There are certain environment windows that you can build in that part of the road in," he said. "We're hoping that it will take place sometime before next summer, maybe sooner than that even. We're pushing - and I don't know where that stands now - that we can do it in the next few months."
Local environmental advocates have been vocal about their opposition to construction in the ecologically sensitive area, and the Adventure Centre's immediate proximity to marshland has caused logistical challenges during discussions of the proposal.
Sutherland said the environmental component of the project is receiving scrutiny from district staff and consultants at the Ministry of Transportation.
"Before anything is done, environmental concerns will all be addressed by the proper people," he said. "They will be addressed, they have to be addressed."
