“I wonder if they will ever build a bridge,” ponders the man in the poster, a dapper 1930s gentleman aboard a Union Steamship boat bound for the Sunshine Coast. Although his words in a cartoon bubble have been added recently to the colourful poster by artist H.E. White, it is entirely possible that the debate about a fixed link to the Coast has been underway for a very long time.
See for yourself: the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives has researched the history of potential links from the road to Squamish to the Coast in an entertaining exhibit on now at the museum. With the recently released fixed link report before the public, the exhibit is timely and is attracting visitors to the museum.
Museum manager/curator Matthew Lovegrove found that early copies of the Coast News dated 1958 carried articles about the possibility of “motoring” from Vancouver on the road to Squamish and around Howe Sound to Gibsons. Much of the talk was about building a road in those years. When the Black Ball Ferry started their connection in 1951, cars were transported to the Coast, the roads improved and this sparked the desire to drive back and forth. In a 1959 Coast News letter to the editor, one writer states that “plans for a bridge were drawn up some years ago,” and he wonders what happened to them. What indeed? Tony Gargrave, MLA for the riding in 1960, weighed in to give the CCF’s (former NDP) perspective in a newspaper item. You can read this early newspaper conversation at the museum on display with images from local photographer Mark Benson.
The museum is not taking sides on the subject, said Lovegrove, but simply wants to explore the issue. To hear what people today have to say about the idea, staff put up an old-school interactive tool, a white board, at the museum last July when the exhibit opened, and the board has been filled up with yays and nays all summer.
“Sorry, but no.” Or “100% NO” followed by “Yes, it will be good for tourism.” Those were the shortest comments compiled from many visits. Other respondents have written lengthy messages, broaching ideas such as the development of fast catamarans for passengers as an alternative to a bridge.
More recently, the museum installed a more high tech interactive way of looking at the show – an augmented reality component. Local artist Matthew Talbot-Kelly, a digital designer, worked on providing a closer look at a map and its proposed links. By picking up an iPad that allows a closer look at the terrain, visitors can decide for themselves if the route from Langdale up to McNab Creek and across by bridge over Anvil Island will work for them.
Lovegrove is ecstatic about having this digital display in the museum – most small museums aren’t able to provide this, and he thanks the talent in the community, particularly Talbot-Kelly for his digital addition.
Visitors can also watch a video made by Steve Sleep and Britanny Broderson at Coast TV in which volunteers Mary Thomson and Sara Macey interviewed teens from Elphinstone Secondary for their views on a fixed link.
“They had huge knowledge and fascinating insights,” Lovegrove said. After all, they will be the ones to be around when, or if, the link is ever built.
The museum is at 716 Winn Road, Gibsons, and the fixed link exhibit will be up until next July.
Stop by and add your comments to the debate.
