Sea-to-Sky Hwy. upgrades could cost $1 billion

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VANCOUVER, B.C. — A government-commissioned study has indicated nearly $1 billion in road improvements are needed to bring the Sea-to-Sky Highway up to par.

The study indicates the highway will become overly congested on a regular basis between 2008 and 2012, and the time to act is now.

Some of the options recommended in the study include: Widening the Sea-to-Sky Hwy. to four lanes between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish at a cost of $750 million, running three to five passenger trains a day to Whistler to alleviate traffic congestion, operating a passenger-only fast ferry. The study also recommends that each of those options be accompanied by more than $200 million in highway safety upgrades.

B.C. Transportation ministry spokesman, Dan Mayberry, tells local media that all suggestions will be considered. He hinted it’s quite likely tolls will soon be charged on the highway, a burden that will be shouldered by log haulers in the area.

"Tolling or user fees are definitely part of this equation in the corridor," says Mayberry, noting the ministry plans to do further studies on the effect of tolls on the highway.

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  • Sea to Sky is not as important as Trans-Canada #1 which needs to be a four lane highway all the way though B.C, more economic dollars and people drive this corridor so the 2010 Olympic upgrades are all the S to S needs right now. But I suppose if the S to S needs an upgrade again then the people of Whistler should pay for this as they are the only one that would benefit from any further upgrades, all focus should be on where the real dollars flow.