Upper Gibsons and the new traffic pattern April 13, 2009
The recent changes to the traffic pattern between Pratt and North Roads in Upper Gibsons gives us
pause to wonder just WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
How on earth did the powers that be come up with the notion that eliminating an entire lane of traffic in
each direction could do anything other than cause congestion? What ever happened to the idea of
government transparency? The public should have been asked for input well before the decision to
proceed had already been made.
These changes were supposed to ensure the smooth and efficient flow of traffic through this area. What
it has done is slow traffic, created serious driver frustration and it will impede emergency vehicles during
critical incidents. This is a recipe for more accidents. The term used by the Department of Highways is
called "traffic calming". We think a more appropriate term would be traffic gridlock. During "ferry traffic"
hours traffic becomes seriously bottled up and slowed to a virtual crawl through this area. With the onset of
the tourist season traffic snarls will last longer and become more frequent. This could result in discouraging
visitors from coming to our area. In that event, the financial stability of some of our businesses could be
threatened.
Early last fall highways officials held a forum to present this plan. Approximately 100 local residents
attended this meeting. Their response to this proposal was vocal and overwhelmingly against it. Obviously
the Department did not listen to the concerns of our citizens. It is hard to figure why this meeting was held
in the first place. Minds had already been made up. Now it seems that we are paying for increased traffic
congestion. Something is wrong with this picture!
Just a few years ago more than one million dollars was spent widening much of this portion of the
highway. Now it has been torn up and replaced. This is a blatant waste of taxpayer dollars.
The Route 101 Safety Society recently received two letters from Transportation Minister Falcon in
response to our ideas regarding the need for a new highway between Gibsons and Sechelt. The Minister
advised us to contact Mr. Don Legault, Area District Manager for the Sunshine Coast for future discussions
and communications regarding Highway 101. The Society has been against the Upper Gibsons project
from the very beginning.. Therefore we strongly recommend that everyone expresses their concerns to:
Mr. Don Legault, Area District Manager
Sunshine Coast Department of Highways,
Email: Don.Legault@gov.bc.ca
mailto:Don.Legault@gov.bc.ca
If the public would start complaining and keep it up, the right things may start to happen.
We'll keep you all posted.