Editor:
Your article “Gibsons bypass recommended” (Aug. 1, page 1) brought back some memories. In the fall of 1976, I was employed by Crippen Engineering in North Vancouver. A friend of mine worked upstairs in the drafting department and we often had lunch together. He said, “Look what I’m working on –– it’s the highway plans for a bypass from Langdale ferry terminal up towards Sechelt.”
In 1993, my Dad and I hiked up the hill from Langdale on the section of the bypass that was under construction that we all now use. An engineer had a slew of paper maps spread out on the back of his pick-up truck. I looked at them and they were drawn by my friend at Crippen 17 years earlier. The current section cost $17 million at the time and was stopped at the top of the hill “because of financial reasons.”
I agree with Mayor White, the residents of Gibsons have endured the traffic problems through town for decades. As a teacher in Gibsons for 30 years, I witnessed the daily traffic jam of ferry traffic trying to get through town at the same time Gibsons Elementary and Elphinstone Secondary students got out of class at 3 p.m.
Contrary to Buzz Bennett’s comments, the MOTT is finally saying that some of the bypass should be built. After 50 years let’s take what we can get. Get it built as soon as possible! Hopefully it won’t be another 50 years to complete a full bypass to Sechelt?
Ian Thomson
Hopkins Landing
