Squamish Valley residents are sounding the alarm over the dangerously deteriorated Squamish Valley Road, which they fear will result in a tragic accident before anything is done.
"The road has eroded on both sides in many places to the point that there is only room for one vehicle to travel safely," stated resident Kristine Miles in a letter to the Minister of Transportation Shirley Bond.
"Please picture the school bus carrying our children heading north on a dark, wet, winter's day meanwhile a loaded logging truck is speeding south on one of these narrow, eroded, pot holed sections of road. Disaster is waiting to happen."
Miles and numerous other residents have been trying to have the problems addressed since the spring.
Potholes have become massive gouges that measure as long as 16 feet and as deep as six inches, causing the approximately 80 household drivers that live in the area to drive down the middle of the road or on the opposite side to avoid damaging their vehicles - a practice they fear will cause a head-on collision along some of the blind corners.
"It's very dangerous for anybody to drive this road right now, and somebody's going to get in a head-on collision with a logging truck or something like that," said Geoff Park, director of the Squamish Valley-based Camp Summit.
"The big factor here is there's a school bus that brings kids up and down this road - I don't know how anybody can argue with that."
Several drivers have also reported destroyed tires and rims, and cracked windshields caused by chunks of asphalt spitting out from underneath logging trucks.
Miles said a Miller Capilano representative told her the ministry isn't providing the funding to repair the road, and pleas for help from transportation ministry Shirley Bond and MLA Joan McIntyre have so far brought no results.
"What I've been told by the ministry is that this is not a priority road," said Miles.
"I'm thinking, when we're talking about safety - and it's not safe to drive up here right now - saying we're not a priority just isn't acceptable."
However ministry spokesperson Dave Crebo said the opposite is true.
"Without question, it's a high priority road rehabilitation project," he said, adding upgrades will be carried out next year "when the weather is conducive to that sort of work."
Asked why it's taking more than a year to fix the road, Crebo said the province's funding is doled "on a emergency basis, or as-need basis."
In the meantime, he said, Miller Capilano is doing short-term repair, using a new asphalt that's supposed to work better in wet weather.
But locals have noticed the patch jobs, and they say the asphalt is knocked out of the holes as soon as logging trucks pass over them.
"The repair work is just absolutely pathetic," said resident Daniel Pletz. "They throw asphalt in the holes, they thump it down by hand, and then a logging truck comes by, hits it and spits it back out."
And with a year to go until complete road rehabilitation is underway, the dangers will only increase, locals fear.
"I drive this road twice a day and have come very close to having an accident," said Adam Hulm. "I truly think that there will be a serious injury very soon as the slippery road [and] poor condition will only make things worse."
