A long-awaited 4.8 kilometre improvement to Highway 101 between Field Road and the Construction Aggregates conveyor belt in Sechelt has been put on the back burner.
Citing rising property costs and the land expropriation needed to widen the highway for the improvements, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) pulled the plug on the project this week.
The news comes as a disappointment to local politicians, namely the District of Sechelt (DOS), who have been working diligently with the province on studies and trying to find the necessary combination of dollars to make the project work.
Why is it that the Sunshine Coast always gets left out? This community received virtually nothing in the province's much-talked about $14 billion transit plan released two weeks ago. Politicians and community groups have been pushing for highway upgrades, a better cycling network, more sidewalks and proper turning lanes for years - to no avail.
The Route 101 Safety Society is one of the community groups advocating for change. Reaction from its members was mixed this week. The Society is advocating for a second inland highway on the Coast and calling for the District to put the money earmarked for the now-delayed Field Road improvement towards a new highway. It's wishful thinking and quite naïve. The idea of a second highway has been talked about for years, and the province wants no part of that discussion. To suggest that any money earmarked for the Field Road project will be saved for a potential second highway maybe 10, 15 or 20 years down the road isn't going to happen.
In a letter from the MOT to the DOS in January, the ministry said construction costs have skyrocketed and that greatly impacted the original estimates. They hadn't factored increased property assessments into the mix either, and seemed surprised to learn the 2008 assessments were significantly greater. Thus the money was not available for the project to go ahead.
Those reasons are puzzling, to say the least. How could the MOT not take these two factors into account? Rising property prices and increased construction costs are nothing new. You mean to tell us the price tag on the Sea-to-Sky Highway upgrades for the 2010 Winter Olympics at some point didn't change? But the MOT somehow found the money for that project. We're not begrudging that fact. The Sea-to-Sky is a major highway project that needed to be done. All we're saying is we'd like to see an even playing field. And when you commit to a project, follow through and live up to that commitment.
