Thousands of additional vehicles will stream north and south on Highway 99 every day during the Olympics, but local highway-users should not experience extensive delays in their daily routines, said Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Jeff Knight.
"The traffic already flows pretty well along Highway 99 through Squamish, especially with that four-lane section now," said Knight. "And the ministry is doing a bit of adjustments to the lights, but they're not going to impact the delay time for cross streets."
Despite local concerns that highway traffic lights will remain green north and southbound for up to 20 minutes, leaving west and eastbound resident stranded, Knight said the ministry will only make "minor fine-tuning" changes.
"There will be possibly some fine-tuning the left turn bays and people really shouldn't notice trying to get onto the highway. There shouldn't be any increase in time," said Knight.
On an average day, Highway 99 will see 14,000 vehicles from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish and 8,000 vehicles from Squamish to Whistler. Starting next week, those figures will increase to 17,000 between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish and 14,000 between Squamish and Whistler, according to Knight.
Various tactics have been employed to minimize and control the impact of the increased traffic, and drivers are already seeing signs of changes.
Yellow pylons have been installed along with signs indicating which lanes are northbound and which are southbound.
Along four-lane sections of the Horseshoe Bay to Squamish portion, no changes will take place. The three-lane sections will use a counterflow method using the centre lane for northbound vehicles in the morning and southbound vehicles in the evening. The two-lane sections have been temporarily converted into three lanes with a counterflow centre lane.
Anyone travelling south on the Sea to Sky highway will not require a permit however there will be up to a 30-minute delay southbound between 7 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. for passage of a train at Porteau Bluffs.
From Squamish to Whistler, a permit will be required for vehicles travelling past Alice Lake. Two permits per household can be obtained in Squamish with proof of residency at the VANOC volunteer centre at 2-40437 Tantalus Rd.
"Permits are fully transferable and it is the property owner's responsibility to distribute their Sea to Sky checkpoint permits to their tenants or guests," states the 2010 transportation website.
Outside the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m a permit will not require a vehicle permit, but drivers should confirm their parking arrangements before driving to Whistler, states the website.
The four-lane sections of the highway north of Squamish will not be changed, however all other sections will have two lanes northbound and onesouthbound from Feb. 5 to March 1.
Residents of the Sea to Sky corridor will have access to an enhanced public transit service from Squamish through to Pemberton. Whenever possible, travellers are asked to leave their cars at home.
For more information go to travelsmart2010.ca.
