As transportation safety advocates, my colleagues and I are acutely aware of the danger the highway poses to vulnerable road users, a term referring to anyone not in a vehicle. We know that area residents, local elected officials and even the Ministry of Transportation and Transit, which is responsible for the highway, are also well aware of these dangers.
For the past two summers during a July cycling event and with Ministry permission, we’ve hired traffic safety crews to help small groups of cyclists cross the highway at the Lower Road intersection because we know that without assistance they might be injured or killed. We watch with concern as high school students, bike commuters and tourists navigate the narrow, broken highway shoulder from Oceanview Drive into Gibsons, where poor visibility, inattention or a slip can have, and has had, tragic consequences. So, when an accident does happen, our shock is only that nothing is being done to reduce the risk.
We’re more than squeaky wheels, though. We’ve raised several hundred thousand dollars in federal funding, contributions from local government and private donors to develop plans aimed at reducing the risk to vulnerable road users on this stretch. We’ve collected detailed topographical data. We’ve hired a traffic engineer as project manager. We’re engaged with all levels of government and the shíshálh and Squamish nations.
We are offering sensible solutions: reduce the speed limit from Lower Road into Gibsons from 80kmh to 60kmh so that infrastructure that will allow pedestrians to cross safely can be installed, and build a separated multi-use path along the south side of the highway so that pedestrians and cyclists can travel parallel to the highway safely between Roberts Creek and Gibsons.
We know there is broad community support for changes such as these. We know that there is political will to make change happen, locally at least. What we need now is for the provincial government to act where we cannot, before someone else dies.
Stephen Forgacs is director of Connect the Coast Society and chair of Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast (TraC).
