Sea To Sky Highway To Whistler

[mr.x]

Much of the once treacherous highway is now 4-lanes, major safety improvements, and it's also a shorter drive up: 90-minutes in good conditions. The road is absolutely scenic. But I would imagine it would still be a massive backlog at the Lions Gate Bridge into downtown Vancouver with just 3 lanes.

And if you're not familiar with 2010 venues, Vancouver is where all the indoor ice venues will take place (in addition to a few snow events: freestyle skiing, snowboarding) and the resort town of Whistler (the largest ski resort in North America and one of the world's best rated) is the site of all the alpine, cross-country, nordic, and luge events.

Pictures by awvan at SSP

Entrance to Lions Bay

Close up of the 2010 flowers, also more on the southbound side of the overpass (sorry for the poor shot)

Heading through Lions Bay

Heading down the hill towards Cristal Falls Rd (Kewitt Camp)

Brunswick Rd interchange (if you can call it that)

Immediately north of Brunswick Rd (don't know the name of the creek)

Doodson's Corner, all lanes open

[mr.x]

All lanes open between Shannon Falls and the Chief parking lot

Restricted lanes approaching bridge construction entering Squamish

[4gamesandcounting]

Presumably 1 line becomes Olympic family lane? Will this lane take spectator buses too? Good job i've got no days of Whistler+Vancouver events!

[mr.x]

^ the whole highway is an Olympic lane, lol. I believe it will be shut down to general traffic between something like 7 am to 8 pm; only VANOC vehicles, emergency vehicles, buses, and residents living along the corridor will be allowed to use the road during those times.

But there will be a major backlog between Whistler and Downtown Vancouver, this three lane bridge that connects them both (there will be one Olympic lane on it):

[skicross]

From Vancouver to Whistler, does the Highway have 4 permanent lanes? In the bidbook they said there would be 3 lanes secctions. Thanks!

[4gamesandcounting]

How long do you expect the journey to last during the games Mr X? Your best guess?!.....

[Chateau Petrus]

On three different days I will be in Whistler (using the bus shuttle)

I preview to take the bus 4 hours before the start of the competition, knowing that I have also to consider the security check.

I think it's a reasonable gap of time, but do you think it's safer to put an additional 30 minutes ?

Thanks for the advise.

[mr.x]

I have no idea. All I can tell you is that right now in GOOD CONDITIONS, it takes 90-minutes. Add in Olympic traffic, I read somewhere they are estimating 80,000 people to be using the highway each day (up fro 20,000 today).

Add in snow, and traffic along the highway and the city will come to a crawl. Vancouver is probably the only Winter Olympic city that could do without any snow, it's absolutely chaos...even 3 cms of it. But I'm sure we'll have more snow removal infrastructure in place during the Games.

[fisher]

On three different days I will be in Whistler (using the bus shuttle)

I preview to take the bus 4 hours before the start of the competition, knowing that I have also to consider the security check.

I think it's a reasonable gap of time, but do you think it's safer to put an additional 30 minutes ?

Thanks for the advise.

If it's a direct bus, I think 4 hours is MORE then enough to cover both travel and security checks. But Mr. X is right about the weather - snow could equal problems. Hopefully Vanoc will have a few more plows then normal on hand. X > I think if there is snow, it will be the city that will be the problem, not the highway. But wouldn't it be hilarious if we had a repeat of last December?

If you want to be safe and tack under 30 minutes on your journey, go for it. There will not be a lack of activities in Whister to keep you busy. I don't have any tickets for events in Whister, but am tempted to go up one day for the 'experience'.

[LinkParkFn]

Since I'll be staying in Whistler, I'll be using Sea to Sky every day, though it won't be that quiet. I just hope the lanes they have will at least be sufficient.

[skicross]

I hope VANOC makes a great work managing the Highway as Vancouver 2010 represents a model that could be followed by future candidate cities.

[SkiFreak]

According to CTV:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/C...ishColumbiaHome

Early completion expected for Sea to Sky Highway

Updated: Wed Aug. 26 2009 15:40:58

ctvbc.ca

The finishing touches are being put on the Sea to Sky Highway.

The Horseshoe Bay-Pemberton section of Highway 99 is set to open ahead of schedule this fall, David Crebo of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure told ctvbc.ca Wednesday.

"Most of the work is done, for the most part now it's just finishing work," Crebo said.

The Ministry of Transportation says the new highway will be safer, faster and will provide 6000 new jobs for B.C. residents.

The new road is expected to see a 56 per cent increase in traffic between Squamish and Whistler by 2025, to be facilitated by 80 kilometres of new passing lanes.

The 600 million dollar upgrade began in 2003, and used more than 260,000 tonnes of asphalt and 47,000 cubic metres of concrete during its construction.

The highway has had a dangerous history. Much of it is built beside a steep cliff face and it is known for its tight windy turns.

Speeding cars, bad weather and poor visibility have lead to the demise of many motorists along the roadway which has held the nickname "The Killer Highway".

The upgrades to the highway were made to accommodate the greater traffic loads expected for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

No date has been set for the opening of the highway.