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We need concrete action

Letters

Editor:

This letter was sent to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Claire Trevena.

Recent heavy rains on the Southern Sunshine Coast resulted in severe flooding including on areas of “Goat Track 101,” which is under the care of your ministry.

This weather event again highlights the consequences of the lack of funding for our highway infrastructure. It is obvious that the Route 101 infrastructure is deteriorating at an increasing pace. Repair efforts and upgrades are, at best, short-term “Band-aids.” In particular, we note “bike lanes” (measuring less than 18 inches in width) recently installed in a few areas do little to encourage and protect cyclists.

Since 2018, you have asked our community to wait for completion of a Corridor Study. This was originally promised to be completed in early 2019 but we learned recently (via an SCRD staff report) that your staff “have completed the problem definition phase of this project and are drafting options that flow from that.” Further, for reasons that are not at all clear, no input from our society or any other community groups appear to have been sought on this mysterious study.

Respectfully, we do not need this study. We need concrete action on building a true highway. The matter has been studied repeatedly for decades. The current road condition, as well as the demands from future growth, mean that final design work and costing needs to be started now.

The recent weather event is yet another reminder – indeed, a clarion call – that “The Sunshine Coast Needs a Highway.” Please, for the well-being of residents and visitors alike, we urge you to make this matter a priority. We are ready to assist and support in this initiative and ask that you keep us fully informed of your progress.

Robin Merriott, Sechelt, Sunshine Coast Highway Society