Complaints and claims for damage related to Highway 99 construction are pouring into the Sea to Sky Improvements Project office, but representatives are attempting to assure drivers that every measure is taken to ensure safety."I know a lot of claims have been processed," said construction director for the project Rob Ahola, adding he doesn't know the actual number of complaints and claims filed. But despite the numerous phone calls and emails from angry drivers, Ahola said crews work hard to ensure safety."Every day the contractor assesses hazards on the road with construction crews and they have safety meetings. We've had in the order to 1,800 blasts since construction's started, so there's been lots of activity and lots of it's been carried out very safely."But the assurances don't seem to improve drivers' opinions, which most recently included tennis star Andre Agassi. Agassi made a very public declaration to a crowd of nearly 5,000 at GM Place during his part of "The Power Within" event, which he delivered alongside style diva Martha Stewart, music producer Quincy Jones and other speakers. "I like everything up here but one thing," Agassi said Wednesday about Vancouver. "We drove to Whistler yesterday and - what's up with your highways? That's a shocker! And it was that way a year ago."Another complaint from Squamish resident Marilyn McVey criticized the claims process she endured when she lost control of her vehicle after hitting a brick-sized rock that had rolled off a construction site at Porteau Cove.In mid-September, McVey sent a letter requesting reimbursement for the tires that were damaged upon hitting the rock. She said she received a follow-up call for more details a month later, and then nothing for four months. After sending an email through the project website, she received "an auto-reply that I would receive a call within 14 days," which she did."After an extremely dissatisfying conversation," wrote McVey in a letter to The Chief, "imagine my surprise when I received a letter saying that although Kiewit 'sympathized with my predicament,' at the time of the accident they were not doing any work near Horseshoe Bay. Horseshoe Bay?!"I have endured my car being regularly showered with mud and rock dust, having construction debris ricochet off the undercarriage and body of the vehicle," said McVey, "frequently dropping into spine-compressing potholes, and I have often found myself driving in the pitch dark and pouring rain down a narrow, twisting highway with no centre line and no white line. I put up with it all because I know it's in everyone's best interests in the long run. However, I do object to having to pay out money for damages caused directly by construction." Upon hearing of McVey's situation, Ahola suggested she try again. "I know they processed a large number of them [claims], and if this person is still not getting an answer, she can obviously come back to the project and we can try to help her sort it out."Ahola said measures have been taken as a result of complaints, such as the installation of over 3,000 new reflectors to improve visibility. When asked what would have to occur for alarm bells to start ringing over safety, Ahola pointed to rock falls and potholes. He said prior to the project, rock falls averaged one per month. In the last few years of the project, there's been "about three or four," he said. "Obviously any rock on the road is not a good thing, so that's what we're trying to improve on is that type of statistic"And potholes should be fixed within 24 hours, he said."There's usually about a 24 hour period when the contractor would pick up on potholes, because they patrol on a 24-hour basis. So I would think if something's not repaired in 24 hours, that would probably be a threshold that would cause some concern." Ahola reminded highway drivers that the point of the project is to improve safety in the long run.
