The intersection at Hill Road and Highway 101, where several serious motor vehicle accidents have occurred, is going to be fixed, according to Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure area manager Don Legault.
Legault updated the transportation advisory committee on plans for the dangerous intersection during the May 4 committee meeting.
Legault said Capilano Highways has been contracted to take out two trees in the area, which have been hit by vehicles in the past, to possibly install a safety guardrail and to treat the surface of the roadway to make it less slippery in the rain.
“The two trees should be gone within the month,” Legault said, noting Capi-lano Highways would also start looking into “micro-surface and/or some other options to improve the rideability on the road.”
The pavement should be resurfaced “sometime this summer or fall,” a representative from Capilano Highways said.
The intersection is known as being the site of serious single-vehicle crashes including one that nearly took the life of 21-year-old Dylan Cross, who spent weeks in a coma after her car collided with a tree at the corner in September 2014.
The intersection has also been identified as a high crash zone by the Sunshine Coast RCMP.
Permanent link
Sechelt alternate director Alice Lutes wants to know whether it’s cheaper to keep funding BC Ferries for the next 40-plus years or to build a fixed link to the Lower Mainland.
Lutes made a motion at the May 4 transportation advisory committee to send a letter urging the province to conduct a comparison study.
Legault noted the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is currently doing a study on the feasibility of creating a fixed link between the Lower Mainland and Gabriola Island, so “it would be a good time to send it.”
Southern Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee Chair Barry Cavens added his support for sending a letter noting the Queen of Coquitlam ferry is slated for replacement in 2023 and the Queen of Surrey is set to be retired in 2028 at a cost of “many millions of dollars.”
Cavens also pointed to the need for costly upgrades at the Langdale terminal as a reason to look into the comparison numbers.
“I think we need to look at service to the Sunshine Coast via fixed link, like a highway, over something like a 40-year horizon, which is the life of a vessel,” he said.
All were in favour of asking the province for a comparison study. The committee request will now go to the infrastructure services committee for endorsement before it’s voted on by the regional district board.
Speed Watch
Speeding continues to be a problem in many elementary school zones, along Lower Road and on the highway where the posted limit drops to 60, committee members saw in the latest Speed Watch report presented May 4.
The February statistics show over 20 per cent of vehicles speeding (going more than 11 km an hour over the posted speed limit) outside Roberts Creek Elementary and Sunhaven Elementary as well as along Highway 101 at Hill Road, where many accidents have occurred.
The March statistics are worse, with over 30 per cent of vehicles speeding outside Roberts Creek Elementary and along Lower Road as well as along Highway 101 near Wilson Creek.
Speed Watch volunteers in March also noted that “mobile device use [was] observed during most deployments.”
