Editor:
Residents of the Sunshine Coast have to start lobbying our municipal councillors, MLA and MP to stop what appears to be developing as a patchwork fix-it program for Highway 101. First it was Gibsons, and now it is Davis Bay.
The traffic volume has increased substantially in the last few years, and with it comes a resulting increase in accidents. At the same time, this narrow, twisting artery is still the only route for logging trucks, service vehicles, buses, bicycles and some pedestrians.
The province will argue that the population on the Coast does not support the cost of a limited access highway to carry increasing traffic safely up and down the Coast. If it can be done for the Squamish/Whistler corridor, it can be done here.
Last year, after two fatal accidents within a week, I did a survey of the highway between Pratt Road and Roberts Creek Road. Following are some of the stats that came out of that survey: distance - 9.4 km; total number of access points to highway - 86 (private and business driveways and roads); average car count for 17 trips - 119.2; average distance between cars - 78.9m; average distance between access points - 109.3m.
At a speed of 60km/hr it takes 4.73 seconds to drive the average distance between access points.
Besides the cost factor, opposition to a new highway will come from Gibsons' businesses. They will rightly argue that traffic will bypass the town, but thousands of cars are driving through it already and clogging it up every two hours for local residents who shop regularly in Gibsons.
At the rate the population is increasing, a limited access highway will have to be constructed at some point.
Pete Metcalfe
Gibsons
