Construction in Selma Park, expected to last Aug. 20 to Sept. 30, will cause intermittent delays on the Sunshine Coast Highway –– but authorities are hoping to prevent the massive delays that held up commuters Tuesday.
The highway is being widened to create a left turn bay which will access the new development up Selma Park Road, Tyler Lambert, the manager of operations for Capilano Highway Services, told Coast Reporter.
Lambert said that although the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) gave contractor Hazelwood Construction Services Inc. a lane closure permit, their transportation management plan states that closures will not happen every day and they will try to maintain two lanes as much as possible throughout construction.
“Unfortunately, there is no viable detour at that location,” Lambert said. “Other locations in Selma Park, there are viable detours, but there's not one there.”
Many Sunshine Coast commuters were surprised and frustrated on Aug. 20 when highway closures ground traffic to a halt, one of the ensuing repercussions being many people missing ferries.
Lambert told Coast Reporter Capilano Highways will be meeting with MOTI representatives on the Sunshine Coast about the delays that took place on Aug. 20, and what can be done to avoid it happening again.
Prefacing that it is not Capilano Highways’ place to mandate these changes and that the discussion is forthcoming, Lambert said, “There's traffic control methods that can be implemented through Selma Park that we've used for years that, while they slow construction down a little bit, can rapidly solve those problems.”
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
