District to advocate for speed cameras, lowering speed limit on Sea to Sky Highway

District of Squamish will talk to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure about enforcing speed on the Sea to Sky Highway and lowering speed limits on the Highway in Downtown Squamish and Garibaldi Estates.

“This is to increase safety throughout the town. We see high accident rates at Garibaldi and Highway, Mamquam, Highway 99, and Cleveland Ave,” said Dora Gunn, a transportation planner at the District of Squamish. “By lowering the speed limit, we might be able to reduce those crash rates.”

At an open house District organized on its Transportation Master Plan, Gunn said the District hasn’t yet determined the correct limit, but will speak to the Ministry of Transportation. “We have started reviewing with them and figuring out what that speed limit might be,” she said.

Lobbying the MOTI to lower speed limits on Highway 99 is one of the 107 action items the district has planned as part of its ambitious Transportation Master Plan.

The District also plans to advocate for improved enforcement and use of spot location speed cameras and potentially the use of average speed cameras. The posted speed limits are not well-obeyed, the District contends.  Matthew Paugh would agree. The local citizen launched a petition last year for more safety on the highway and said posted speed limits are just numbers on a board if the police don’t enforce the speed.

“I don’t have any issue with them lowering the speed limits, but it’s not changing anything because they don’t enforce the speed limits,” he says. “It sounds great that the district will advocate for more enforcement, but these laws are already on the book but speed limits are not consistently enforced,” Paugh said.

He is not too keen on localized speed cameras either. “They are a complete waste of time, to put it bluntly. Once you know where the speed camera is, you slow down there, and then off you go. I have specifically advocated for average speed over distance cameras because it means that you can’t get away from over that entire area,” he said.

Paugh says what is absent from the highway is more police presence: “We don’t see the police. They don’t show up, and they are not answering any inquiries. So, I’d love to see this, but I don’t know if this pressure by the District will change anything.”

Besides advocating for more speed enforcement, District also plans to work with the Ministry of Transportation on the following action items:

Intersection safety improvements

District says most highway intersections feature multi-lane cross-sections with left-turn lanes and channelized right turns and have the highest number of collisions in Squamish. The District will advocate for improving safety, reducing traffic congestion, and supporting safe, active transportation.

Upgrades to biking and walking infrastructure

The highway corridor includes multi-use pathways, multi-use bridge crossings, and active modes overpasses. Often, these facilities do not meet best practices and are awkward to navigate. In ongoing discussions with the Ministry, the District will advocate for upgrades to meet best practices.

Best practices for overpasses.

However, the highway crossings at some key locations are challenging from a personal safety perspective and due to the risk of climate change and sea level rise. Furthermore, they don’t always work well for people rolling. The district will advocate for overpasses or underpasses that meet best practices when any new highway crossings are proposed.

Extensions to the corridor trail along the highway

The highway enhances active transportation connectivity to the north and south, including popular tourist destinations such as Alice Lake, the Sea to Sky Gondola, and Shannon Falls. The District will advocate for and contribute resources to extend paved trails along the highway corridor.

The Transportation Master Plan will be discussed by the council in the fall, and the final plan will be shared with the residents in the winter.