Opinion

A Killer Commute

Even after its upgrade, the road to Whistler won't be safe.

By Rafe Mair, 11 Aug 2008, TheTyee.ca

Sea-to-Sky Highway

Sea-to-Sky: Bring back radar?

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It was six o'clock on a drizzly February morning, and I was driving along the Sea-to-Sky highway to work. The stated speed limit was 90 and I was doing 60. I had a devil of a time seeing where I was going. When I reached Ansel Place perhaps 10 kilometres north of Horseshoe Bay, there was suddenly a pair of headlights coming towards me, I thought, in my lane.

I pulled to the right, the tires caught the soft shoulder, and by nothing short of a miracle my car missed a power pole taking out the guy wire instead, coming to rest against a mound of dirt.

I should have been killed.

Whether there was an oncoming car in my lane or I just thought there was, I don't know. What I do know is that most people who live along this killer highway have nightmare stories to tell.

Hurry up and wait

Fatal accidents seemed like a weekly occurrence, until heavy highway construction forced traffic to slow down.

We once had the highway closed for 11 hours -- imagine being a pregnant woman, or a mom with small kids at home or just needing to perform a bodily function. The worst I had was eight and a half hours, the length of time it takes to fly from YVR to London.

Then came the big slide near Porteau Cove on July 29, cutting the Lower Mainland's cord to Whistler and beyond until crews managed to clear the way http://dcnonl.com/article/id29811 again four days later.

Interesting that no one held the contractor, Peter Kiewit, to account. Despite the work the contractor had done, drilling and driving in bolts, this was seen as an act of God. And no one seemed to care that the rocks and heavily polluted asphalt were simply pushed into the ocean. Kiewit paid $50,000 of the cleanup and we paid the rest -- a sum that will never be disclosed -- you can bet on that.

Safer road ahead?

We are told that when the construction is finished, the dangers along the improved road will be much diminished. Maybe. But there are still going to be a hell of a lot of serious accidents even with concrete dividers between the left and right halves and most will be two-laned.

There are several reasons for my gloominess. For starters, this highway development has been a platinum opportunity for friends of the premier -- the developers.

New communities are rising like mushrooms after a rainstorm all the way between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish, meaning that Kevin Costner was right in "Field Dreams" when he said "build it and they will come." (Actually I think it was James Earl Jones but there's a limit to how much I'll research, though, come to think of it, it was a helluva movie).

By the time the Winter Olympics roll around, I daresay the highway will be as busy as it ever was. Busy highways = accidents.

Sea-to-Sky maniacs

But it's not just the traffic, and here I'm going to spit it out -- drivers on the way to and from Whistler are mad! Not only do they badly over drive the road, they weave in and out of traffic as if it were a Formula One racetrack, not a highway. It's unbelievable how these jerks drive! Not all of them, you say? I suppose not but enough of them to make it look that way.

There are two steps that can be taken, either one of which will make the highway much, much safer to drive.

The less expensive way is to bring back photo radar. Yes, I know how unpopular it was and I shared the anger at the way police forces abused this tool. I don't recommend a full return but rather an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act allowing cabinet to designate a highway "dangerous," permitting the police to use photo radar.

On this highway one cannot complain about an unfair "speed trap" -- it's a dangerous highway from start to finish. If everyone knew that they would almost certainly get a $150 ticket both coming and going, you would see some results.

The alternative is to have rotating police radar traps, but the problem there is that it's costly and there are only certain places on any highway where these traps can be used. The speeders know this and act accordingly.

Another alternative is use of a helicopter but, again, this is expensive.

Radar rights

I must admit as one who is jealous of his civil rights, I hate the idea of radar. The citizen must accept the fact that radar accurately depicted the speed alleged and you can't cross-examine a machine.

I take solace, however, from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 1, which reads "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society [my emphasis].

Surely it can be demonstrated that allowing photo radar after cabinet has looked at the evidence and decided in its favour is justifiable in a free and democratic society.

As long as people are allowed, virtually unhindered, to drive at excessive speeds, the Sea-to-Sky highway will be a killer.

Ask anyone who drives it several times a day.

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Rafe Mair writes a Monday column for The Tyee and is a spokesperson for Save Our Rivers.

26 Comments:

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  • Tired of the Li...

    3 years ago

    The illogical upgrade choice

    The stated biggest reason for the upgrade on the Sea to Sky is for the Olympics; if it really was the logical choice would have been to upgrade the rail road *we still owned it then ) and rent some high speed trains for the short period of the Olympics, instead we spend billions on a road/gift to Campbells buddies and will be paving over the railroad for the olympic period to allow for the use of a less efficient form of travel than trains.
    As Raif has pointed out the road will still be a dangerous road, a bill for billions to rebuild the road and increased development pressures in an area that is too dangerous for extensive development- just wait for the bills to fix the properties along the route when more acts of god slide onto the properties, one would almost think maybe the "acts of God" are just that, "God telling us not to build developments in the area"

  • Grumpy

    3 years ago

    $$ for the favoured few.

    When one listens to radio Brand-X, one hears all sorts of platitudes for the Sea to Sky. Oh no, no, no, to anyone questioning the project. Tut, tut, if you don't support the Sea to Sky project, you don't support the Olympics and we can't have that, can we.

    Here is how the Campbell scam works and it works well for all sorts of government projects and its all very legal.

    1) Plan a project to be 2 or 4 or even 10 times more than it should.
    2) Call it a P-3 and all is now clouded in secrecy.
    3) Hire every friend of the government to work on the project. This includes dubious consultants, engineering firms that over engineer, etc, etc.
    4) Create a new 'revenue neutral' gas tax to fund the overpriced projects.
    5) To hell with the taxpayer.

    If a project can be done for, let's say $1 million, by planning it to cos $10 million, means that you have $9 million more to divvy among your friends.

    Easy, legal, and being done in BC!

  • Skywalker

    3 years ago

    Right On Rafe!

    The Sea-to-Sky was only a killer because people who spent a day on the slopes insisted on getting back to Vancouver in record time. It was a case of natural selection but unfortunately there were always innocent victims. Photo Radar would have been a cheap and effective enforcement tool. Oh no, we have to spend a king's fortune for a 14 day party in 2010.

  • Rhea

    3 years ago

    Toll the h*ll out of it!

    There's a simple way to pay for the boondoggle known as the Sea to Sky, or for enough cops to patrol it 24/7/365. Toll it like the Coquihalla. After all, it's not the only route to Whistler...if people don't like it, they can always drive around, just like those motorists who don't want to pay their $10 to drive the Coquihalla.

    Funny how the Liberal government is all gung-ho for tolling all the *other* less expensive projects, like the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges, which will be used heavily by commercial and regular working stiff commuter traffic, in the name of "cost recovery", but gets squeamish about tolling their pet project that serves primarily rich tourists and Howe Street parasites who could well afford it. Oh, wait...those would be the same people funneling money into Gordo's little backstage projects and covering up his illegal activities with taxpayer dollars...so that would kill the golden goose.

  • Luke Skywalker

    3 years ago

    The Sea to Sky Upgrades...

    Rafe:

    Quote:
    The stated speed limit was 90 and I was doing 60.

    In fact, the section between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish has a posted 80 km/hr speed limit although the operating speed (before any improvements) was usually around 60 km/hr.

    That is a result of traffic "ponding" along the 2-lane sections, which results in frustrated and over anxious drivers providing potential windows for accidents.

    The "Squamish Highway" (now known as the STS) was completed circa 1958 between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish, when very little vehicular traffic utilized the corridor.

    Today, the traffic counts are ~13,700 AADT between Squamish and Horseshoe Bay and 4-laning (or twinning) is usually considered when traffic counts reach 10,000 AADT.

    Much of that traffic relates to that corridor acting as a commuter-shed upto blue-collar Squamish.

    The traffic counts between Squamish and Whistler are considerably lower at 7,700 AADT, which does not necessitate any 4-laning with the exception of passing lanes.

    During the 1980's and into the 1990's $hundreds$ of millions were spent upgrading the corridor in terms of wooden trestle bridge replacement by concrete clear-span bridges (many with 4-lane cross-sections for future highway upgrades).

    Those sums were also expended upon expensive in-bed concrete channelization of the upstream river beds after the M-Creek and Alberta Creek (Lions Bay) debris torrent disasters.

    Originally, engineering studies indicated that 4-laning between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish with a 90 km/hr design standard would cost around $1.3 billion inclusive of tunnels, viaducts, bridges, and horrendous blasting.

    The 4-laning between Sqwiamish and Whistler was estimated at around an additional $400 million for a total cost of $1.7 billion. (2000 cost estimates)

    A little too rich for BC's blood.

    That's why the $670 million option was chosen between Squamish and HB (and Whistler), with an 80 km/hr design standard (as opposed to the more expensive 90 km/hr) on 4-laning where financially feasible.

    BTW, sections of the highway between Squamish and Whistler were actually "paved over logging roads" with a single solid yellow centre-line until recently, when the Cheakamus Canyon section was upgraded a few years back. Those sections were definitely "white knuckle drives" for the uninitiated.

    It doesn't matter what political stripe of the government, the SKS upgrades were gonna be completed in any event.

    And yes Rafe, when things are completed late next year, you are gonna see 1.5 meter paved shoulders as well as continous 4-lane divided highway with concrete median barrier in your commute from Lions Bay... and NO MORE traffic ponding!

  • BC Mary

    3 years ago

    Sea-to-Pie-in-the-Sky

    Let's watch Campbell's Gang after they've paved some of our BC Rail trackage.

    They only have to drag their sorry ... er, feet until July 14, 2009 before the 5-year clauses kick in and CN could be forced ... forced, I tell you ... to "buy" such unused BCR property for $1. Crappy old waterfront lands like in North Vancouver, too.

    You have to wonder, when the rocks at Porteau Cove came crashing down like a vengeful fist, if perhaps there is a God watching over certain things in B.C.

    Wouldn't surprise me if Himself was initially offended by that ridiculous name.

    Squamish Highway, Whistler Highway not good enough for those earthlings. For them, it's Sea-to-Sky Highway.

    Nowhere does that name sound more gauche, more narrowly bombastic than when the Speaker of the House of Commons must acknowledge their M.P. as "The Member from Sea-to-Sky Country" ... like, huh? Me, I picture him/her hanging from parachute ropes inadvertently hooked onto a rock face somewhere on the ... Whistler Highway ... en route from sky-to-sea, bleating "Put me down! Put me down!"

    Well, thanks, Rafe. You just did. Good on ya. Enough with fools.

    .

  • G West

    3 years ago

    Is this another name for vehicular idiots?

    frustrated and over anxious drivers

    Why is it that most of this species also drive SUVs and always exceed the posted limit?

    Like the rest of Campbell's idiocy and like the amazing sinking Coquihalla, the people of the province are only beginning to pay for this government's foolish lack of planning and foresight.

    If it's good enough for the road builders of BC and the new car dealers of the province, it's good enough for Gordon.

    And don't ask too many questions - you won't like the answers.

    Sea to Sky indeed!

    Put 'em all in a hot air balloon and let them find their own way to Whistler.

  • Luke Skywalker

    3 years ago

    Luddites...

    Earth to Carole James...

    It is quite apparent that the NDP left do NOT want any highway upgrades in BC, beit:

    1. The Coquihalla;

    2. The Sea to Sky;

    3. The SFPR;

    4. Hwy 1 and Port Mann twinning;

    5. New Pitt River Bridge;

    6. New Golden Ears Bridge and Connectors:

    7. Cariboo Connector twinning;

    8. Interior Hwy 1 twinning;

    9. Okanagan Hwy 97 twinning;

    etc., etc. etc.

    Ergo, will the NDP please... PLEASE inlcude a policy plank in its May, 2009 election platform to disallow and discontinue and more highway construction in BC????

    PLEASE??!!

    Budd... are ya with me??? ;)

  • WillD

    3 years ago

    Sea-to sky highway

    This may be to simplistic or unworkable, so I would like the 'experts' to comment. We have all seen railway box-cars and tanker cars on the railway sidings with a large sticker on the side of each with a bar code just like the ones used in everything we buy in a store.I think this is used to track the box car, where it is, what it has in it etc. I have often wondered why these cannot be issued to car drivers using the sea to sky. They could have road-side readers spaced every 10K or so and a record made of the departure time and arrival time of a given car and the license number and owner of each car. If the car arrives sooner than it should at the given max speed, a ticket is automtically issued in the mail. Thus a speeder could theoretically get a number of tickets by the time they reached Whistler. As far as issuing a bar-code sticker to put on the right-hand side of the windshield is concerned, that need only be done once for each car and could be be issued very easily at a point in the Horseshoe Bay or Squamish area. I am sure, (not being a computer expert) that todays computers could easily handle such a system. There would be no need for additional police, radar traps, helicopters etc. It would all be automatic, and VERY expensive for the speeders. Just an idea. DL

  • Stump

    3 years ago

    luddites

    Adding road capacity in the twenty-first century is akin to building stables downtown in the mid-20th... yesterday's solution to tomorrow's problems.

    Clue in Luke. The personal vehicle is going the way of the dinosaurs which fuel them, no amount of gnashing teeth on behalf of the Road Builders and New Car Dealers will change that.

    The Luddites are the one's getting in the way of new solutions with their constant calls to blacktop farmland and despoil nature so they can shave five minutes off their single occupant vehicle commute. Get with the times good buddy.

  • Stump

    3 years ago

    direct experience

    BTW, I've driven the highway in question at least a half-dozen times in the past couple of weeks. Perfectly safe if you don't drive like an idiot.

    The money would have been better spent on driver education, enforcement of existing laws, and jail time for the fools who endanger everyone.

    Homes Not Games!

  • RickW

    3 years ago

    Rafe, Rafe, Rafe........

    Quote:
    ...allowing cabinet to designate a highway "dangerous"...

    It certainly WON'T be this cabinet on the S-2-S -- not after spending a gazillion dollars to 'make it safe'!

    Other than that, stump is right. The Luddites (Gordites?) are preaching Green, and practicing 'yesterday's solutions'. For instance, one of the 'selling features' of the Putello Bridge replacement is it's reputed 100 year durability..........

  • yook

    3 years ago

    sea to die

    As someone who has spent many hours commuting the famous Sea to Die highway from Squamish to both Whistler and West Van I feel qualified to comment.
    Yes the highway is a bit dangerous in spots however I feel the most dangerous part of it is the lack of familiarity by the tourist crowd. They are the ones slowing things down by their insecurity thus creating various forms of, shall we say, road rage.
    The people who commute everyday know the spots that need to be slowed for and also know the spots where some pedal are necessary.
    I say keep the faint of heart and short of road knowledge off the road.
    If they were all put on the railline they could enjoy the view and not plug up the road which the working people so desperately need.

  • DPL

    3 years ago

    Photo Radar hits only the

    Photo Radar hits only the folks who can't really believe the speed sign applies to them as the rest of us simple folk.Its to make for safer driving. Read the sign and work the gas pedal to stay at or under that speed, which is set for clear and dry roads. King Gordo should like Photo Radar as reduced speed means less fuel burned so we could all be green.
    I've only done that road a few times and never noriced it was particularly dangerous, and that was before the bucks being spent on it now.

  • Luke Skywalker

    3 years ago

    Traffic Engineering Anyone????

    Stump:

    Quote:
    I've driven the highway in question at least a half-dozen times in the past couple of weeks. Perfectly safe if you don't drive like an idiot.

    yook:

    Quote:
    Yes the highway is a bit dangerous in spots however I feel the most dangerous part of it is the lack of familiarity by the tourist crowd.

    Seems you guys don't understand the difference between 1950's/60's sub-standard highway design/geometry with then low volume useage...

    And the purpose of twinning after AADT hits 10,000, traffic ponding, and the purpose of modern highway design in terms of safety, reliability, and capacity.

    [Did I mention that the ~100 km SKS corridor has an accident rate well above the provincial average...or the cost/benefit analysis????]

    Sheesh... based upon the foregoing analogy, BC should not be upgrading/spending:

    1. ~$1 billion on 25 km in the Kicking Horse Canyon on Hwy 1;

    - that's equivalent to spending $4 billion on the STS, with half the AADT (5,000)!

    http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/kickinghorse/index.htm

    2. ~ $2 billion on the Cariboo Connector, over a longer time frame, between Cache Creek and Prince George on Hwy 97;

    http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/cariboo_connector/index.htm

    3. $42.5 million on twinning 10.5 km of Hwy 1 east of Kamloops;

    http://www.gov.bc.ca/tran/attachments/nr_1_monte_creek_web_version.pdf

    4. ~ $80 million on twinning 9 km of Hwy 97 north of Kelowna;

    http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008OTP0195-001156.htm

    5. ~ $54 Million on twinning 7 km in the South Okanagan Valley on Hwy 97;

    I can go on and on and on and on...

    Yep, what a waste of money! These highways can be driven "perfectly safe" without the massive financial expenditures required.

    Ergo, contact the leader of the opposition and the NDP and make your voice known in opposition to these projects!! PLEASE :)

  • Skywalker

    3 years ago

    Interesting

    Most of the comments are on the need for tons of money for the highway improvements so people can get to the Olympics on a bigger and better road. One seems to want to make inject the NDP into the debate suggesting they don't want to upgrade BC's highways. Even one who is not fond of James knows that is a crock but the echo continues. We now pay more in gas taxes just so Campbell can build more roads hoping that we will all forget his other blunders. We have a carbon tax that goes into General Revenue. Olympic Spending that is masked as anything but so they can keep the costs of the 14 day party artificially low and out of the public eye. Oh yeah so let's all now focus on the continual echo.

  • RickW

    3 years ago

    L/Skywalker

    Quote:
    BC should not be upgrading/spending

    Your are certainly correct in this! I refer you to stump's observation:

    Adding road capacity in the twenty-first century is akin to building stables downtown in the mid-20th... yesterday's solution to tomorrow's problems.

  • Stump

    3 years ago

    I understand

    the obvious reality that these superhighways will be very empty someday soon. Too bad the vote-whores of every party can't figure it out.

  • ME2

    3 years ago

    Stump

    "....these superhighways will be very empty someday soon"

    A MOST incautious statement, I think.

  • Stump

    3 years ago

    incautious

    I stand by my comment. Between tele-commuting, better transit, and a gradual move to self-propelled travel due to the cost of fuel, the age of the automobile nears its logical conclusion. It follows that a great deal of road space will be no longer needed.

  • freebear

    3 years ago

    Vital Link to riches!

    Funny how so few will profit so much!

    How much was land/property worth along the highway before the Olympic announcement?

    How much is it selling for now?

    Who owns property along that highway now?

    Why not toll that highway?

    When the slide happened all the talk was how long will this vital link be closed?

    Their concern about restoring their vital link sounded identical to the concerns of BC Ferries dependent communities!

    Oil prioce has fallen has BC Ferries fuel surcharge fallen?

    Why does BC Ferries advertise at GM Place? Just so they can have a Sky Box?

    What's next, a Sea to Sky highway ad at GM Place? Ride the Sea to Sky, we fixed it up so you should'nt die!

    If interior residents shouldn't have to subsidize BC Ferries users then why should islanders/ferry dependent communities subsidize land speculators, developers, and a 2 week olympic get together for the rich and supposed elite (not taking anything away from athletic competition).

    Why not toll that road? What? Not fair because its your only access! Did you know that before you moved/invested their? You can afford a million dollar home but not a toll?

    Apparently islanders did; so says Kevin Falcon - your choice, your predicament.

    I will be sure to apply for a Sea to Sky tollbooth operator jo, sticking it to the rich elite!

  • logical

    3 years ago

    Lions Gate Bridge

    I find it fascinating how 1.5 years from the 2010 Games and nothing is being said about the three lane, for both directions, Lions Gate Bridge.
    It's fine to be concerned re the Sea-to-Sky fiasco but people have to get there first. And where will the majority of Olympic tourists be staying? In downtown Vancouver overpriced hotel rooms.
    A lot of moneyed folks, particularly from south of the border, prefer a car to get around in. It will make for a sight to behold: midwinter, possibility of bad weather, first they encounter the LG Bridge at rush hour and then unpredictable treachery when they finally make it to the Sea-to-Sky.

  • Palharry

    3 years ago

    Sea to sky Dieway

    I've driven all over rural BC for most of my life. My general rule is that you can go about the posted KM per hour in Miles per hour if you have a decent vehicle. I recently went a few years without a car and then drove the highway. Freaked me out! I mean, now I know, but it kind of got to me. I hope all these visitors are ready.

  • RickW

    3 years ago

    logical

    Quote:
    the LG Bridge at rush hour

    They will ban rush hours for the "festivities". Gordo is working on it, taking his cue from Beijing.

  • Yammer

    3 years ago

    Pink dye

    I believe the solution for dangerous driving on the Sea To Sky involves helicopters, not for issuing speed warnings per se, but to mark the offending vehicle with some sort of permanent ink (pink, for maximal irritation) with a guided missile.

    Drastic? Not drastic enough.

  • Snowrunner

    3 years ago

    Photo Radar

    Coming from Europe I found the idea of opposing Photo Radar always rather "funny".

    In Germany they have set up photo radar in quite a few places, but they are required to also set up signs BEFORE the radar to inform people that there is photo radar on the highway. The Camera only "clicks" when you go above the speed limit and then you're on the hook.

    Why this is such a concern in Canada is a bit puzzling to me.

    Having said this, I have driven the Sea-to-Sky Highway twice and I would agree it is a "horrible" stretch of road. What surprises me is that "Green BC" (yes, that's a joke) opted to expand the highway instead of going mass transit. Similar to the westcoast express having a traing gonig would be solving a few issues.

    But who knows, since I moved out here from the east I realize that most of the "green" and "liberal" (as in political idea) in BC is marketing, not reality.

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