Editor:
This letter was sent to Transportation Minister Rob Fleming and MLA Nicholas Simons.
The first year of COVID-19, 2020, saw bicycle sales (regular and e-bikes) in record numbers here on the Sunshine Coast. Healthy seniors saw an opportunity to keep an active lifestyle by biking. And where do they ride? On the very narrow aprons along Highway 101. Due to a lack of foresight or will from any level of government there is just one, very short, bike lane west of Roberts Creek Road.
Traffic whizzing by at 80 km/h is dangerous enough, but this risk is astronomically increased when those aprons are not maintained. Last year, despite repeated calls to Capilano Highway Services, the highway did not receive any maintenance. After a winter of significant wind storms, both sides of the highway are covered in debris. It would only take one errant stone or stick under a tire to throw a person into the path of traffic.
In January 2018 the government announced: “The new maintenance contracts will include increased standards, resulting in enhanced winter maintenance, expanded sweeping along cycling routes and more communication with the public regarding rapidly changing road conditions during severe weather events and other incidents affecting travel on B.C. roads.”
I sincerely hope our representative will ensure the work gets done this year and that our government will take its fiduciary duty for the safety of its citizens seriously.
Kathie Wraight, Sechelt
