Inadequate traffic light timing, missing deceleration lanes, problems with trail connectivity and passability -these are just a few Highway 99 improvement project defects the District of Squamish wants fixed.
And time, it's feared, is running out.
"The main cause of concern is timing," said Mayor Greg Gardner.
"Some of these matters have taken longer than we would like to address, and we're becoming concerned because we are nearing the end of the project.
"We think it's time for them to be addressed."
At next week's council meeting Tuesday (Nov. 17), Squamish council is scheduled to review a list of 19 such issues that the community development department has come up with.
The list also includes the replacement of municipal property, such as fencing at Tantalus Way and a stockpile of material usually located along the Mamquam River for emergency use in the event of a flood.
The district is also asking for streelights at the newly-built Centennial Way underpass, a deceleration lane for northbound vehicles coming upon Clarke Drive, let-downs at intersections and on islands for cyclists and wheelchair users, and a taller pedestrian Mamquam Blind Channel underpass.
Since the builder, Kiewit and Sons, has no contractual obligation to the district, the only recourse the municipality has is to influence the province to "exercise their control over the contractor," said Gardner.
The vast majority of listed items have already been brought to the ministry's attention, and staff and project representatives have been in discussions over certain issues for two years, said Ministry of Transportation representative for the improvement project, Dave Crebo.
"It's not unusual for a project of this size and scope to have some issues that would need given attention to as the project nears completion," he said.
"Obviously if they were all easy to be knocked off, they would've been, so there's obviously some work to be done on these. But I don't think things are seen to be insurmountable."
Crebo said that although the contractor's work is almost done, there remains a long term agreement with the Sea to Sky investment group.
"It's not like the project is packing up and leaving town," said Crebo.
"Once the project is done, certainly the Sea to Sky group is there for the long haul and wants to have good relations with the corridor, and take care of the corridor, so we don't see it as time running out on this."
He also wanted to remind residents of the unusually large number of benefits the town is now enjoying that went above and beyond merely improving the highway.
"There's quite a few one-off benefits, and that's something that would not normally be included in this kind of a highway project," he said, pointing to the Centennial Way underpass, new trails system, $132,000 to the Squamish River Watershed Society for habitat improvement, $122,500 to the land conservancy for acquisition of floodplain near the Adventure Centre, business area gateways and Depot Road signalization for safer highway crossing "even though there's low volume traffic there."
"Not to minimize the issues on the table - I'm certainly working toward resolving those, but there has been a lot of benefits to the community as well," said Crebo.
Gardner said he also wanted to highlight the benefits of the highway as well as the work to resolve complaints that have already made.
"In that sense it [the list] appears like a negative document, but we've made a lot of progress, and the District of Squamish is realizing an incredible benefit from this highway being installed."
Council members will not be asked to vote on a recommendation at next week's council meeting. The list is for informational purposes only, said Gardner, and staff will continue to work on having the issues resolved.
