North Shore residents, and folks from all around Howe Sound, are being asked to weigh in on a plan to connect the Lower Mainland directly to the Sunshine Coast via a series of new roads and bridges.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure debuted four concepts under consideration for a fixed link to the Sunshine Coast last week.
Among them: The option dubbed the Powell River Road Link that stretches 200 kilometres from the Sea to Sky Highway north of Squamish all the way around the north end of Jervis Inlet and south again to Powell River. The result would be a three-hour drive from Horseshoe Bay and a price tag of $2.5 to $3 billion. Under this option, both BC Ferries routes that serve Sunshine Coast residents would remain in place.
A more direct road being considered would have the new two-lane highway trace the western side of Howe Sound from Squamish as far as Port Mellon. The route would take about twice as long as the current ferry trip and come with a cost of $1.5 to $2 billion, according to the province’s estimates.
The third and most direct option would see two bridges span Howe Sound over to Anvil Island and then across to McNabb Creek with a new road linking up with Port Mellon. High-level cost approximations are $2 to $2.5 billion, but it would take just 40 minutes to get from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay, engineers estimate.
A fourth option considers linking the lower Sunshine Coast with Powell River via a bridge.
The province says a fixed link would be more reliable for Coast residents than BC Ferries, and it would bolster economic growth for the region, that currently has just 30,000 residents. But residents on this side of Howe Sound have questioned multibillion-dollar price tags and the inevitable traffic the fixed link would inject onto already clogged local roads.
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy said that’s not something he would want to see happen.
“I think we need to see a diversified economy and employment opportunities so that people aren’t forced back to Metro to work,” he said. “I would have the same objective on the Sunshine Coast. The goal is to improve connectivity and improve opportunity but at the same time, if the objective is to make it into a bedroom community, then we’re really just extending sprawl and not necessarily creating a better place on either side of the water.”
But he added, it’s inevitable there would be an increase in traffic here as well. That’s something that could be mitigated with adding more transit options on the Sea to Sky corridor and improvements to the North Shore’s arterial roads, he said.
“I appreciate that as well, be it the First Narrows or the Second Narrows,” he said. “We continue to work on solutions on the North Shore. We’re putting almost a quarter-billion dollars into the whole interchange on the north end of the Second Narrows Bridge from Mountain Highway on down to try and improve that traffic situation.”
Whether they’re looking for a life without ferry lineups or want to see this plan dead in the water, Sturdy said he encourages residents to use the province’s online feedback forms at fluidsurveys.com/s/sunshine-coast-fixed-link-feasibility-study/
“Remember, this is about a high-level assessment. This is about determining whether there are things that are feasible. It may well be that at the end of the day, it doesn’t make sense but we can have an informed discussion now as opposed to a speculative one,” he said.
