Anybody who has driven to Whistler or North Vancouver on a busy weekend in the summer might be ready to conflate the Sea to Sky Highway with a legendary mythological Greek hero. That scenic stretch of asphalt could soon become the Achilles heel of the high-flying communities along the route.
Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the B.C. government spent about $600 million on improvements to what was considered one of this province’s most notorious accident magnets. And that investment has paid off. On most days, the trip from Squamish to the North Shore takes a scant 45 minutes and a mere 35 minutes to Whistler, with fewer slow-moving convoys, or time robbing pinch points.
Even better, collisions, injuries, and fatalities have dropped noticeably.
But too often the bad old days have returned. Whistler is experiencing so much vehicular inflow that municipal officials are looking at strategies to stem the steady stream of traffic.
And during many event-filled weekends, traffic snarls through Squamish and Britannia Beach are commonplace. Still, for most of the workweek traffic is tolerable, relative to many thoroughfares on the Lower Mainland where motorists can find themselves stuck bumper-to-bumper for hours.
Many traffic reducing remedies have been bandied about, including adding more lanes to the existing highway, inaugurating a ferry service to Squamish, launching high-speed rail service, or building an alternative road from Indian Arm to Squamish.
In the meantime, while those options continue to flutter through the bureaucratic ether, the recently completed BC Transit Sea to Sky Transit Future Plan identified the need for a more robust regional transit service. “With our increased interconnectedness with Vancouver, regional transit up and down the corridor will play a key role in getting cars off the highway and ensuring there are affordable transportation options to visitors and locals,” Mayor, Patricia Heintzman said in a 2016 news release about improvements to the highway, “
Enhanced transit is definitely a step in the right direction and the federal government’s multibillion-dollar infrastructure cash infusion could accelerate that plan. All the same, at the moment, the Lower Mainland’s chronic transit needs will likely get the lion’s share of the funding pie.
And if the underutilized Squamish bus system is an indicator, most commuters will remain hooked on the convenience of personal vehicles to get them from door to door as fast as possible.
Let’s remember, being “Hardwired for Adventure” means the less time drivers spend in the public transit loop, the more opportunities they have for climbing, mountain biking, or hiking, or for that matter, just spending time with their families.
With that outlook in mind and the rapid population influx about to inundate Squamish, drivers should be ready for the weekend highway congestion scenario to spill over into the rest of the week in the not too distant future.
