A committee of Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) area directors put the proverbial boots to roads contractor, Miller Capilano, during a discussion on ongoing communication with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) at a June 12 meeting.
In delivering a brief update to the committee of area directors, the SLRD’s director of environmental services, Omar Butt, reported the provincial government indicated no plans to do any paving work on the Duffey Lake Road in 2024.
“It’s noticeably worse this year, for sure, so we’ll keep pushing and keep letting them know our comments on that road,” he said.
The Duffey—which is Highway 99 between Pemberton and Lillooet—was noted for its poor road-surface quality by area directors in the region. Following Butt’s brief update, where he also revealed the province gave the SLRD a questionnaire to provide feedback on the performance of roads contractor Miller Capilano, which maintains the Duffey, local directors launched into criticism of the company.
“We don’t know what they’re doing until they’re doing it,” said Area C director, Russell Mack, who represents a stretch of the Duffey from Pemberton towards Joffre Lakes.
Mack also pointed out a handful of burnt-out cars on the Duffey that are yet to be cleared despite promises from various managers at Miller Capilano.
“We just can’t leave abandoned, burnt-out cars on the edge of the provincial highway,” said Mack.
He also levelled criticism at Miller Capilano staff for the quality of grading carried out on secondary roads in the area, a lack of responsiveness, and a lack of recourse at higher levels of government when issues were brought up to MOTI representatives.
It's not just the more rural areas impacted, but high-traffic areas, too, according to Mack.
“Even down through Whistler and Squamish, there’s potholes in the roads down there that have been there for months," he said. "That’s probably one of the most highest-used roads in the province with all the folks travelling to Whistler from the Lower Mainland, and here’s these holes in the road that have been there for years, almost. I’m down there quite often, and I’m dodging the same holes I’ve been dodging for years.”
It was the Duffey that soaked up the most ire however, with Area A director Sal Demare also joining in to talk about quality standards not being met, while alternate director for Area B, Jacquie Rasmussen (who represents the rest of the Duffey to Lillooet not covered by Mack), agreed communication is lacking, and that the Duffey needs “some TLC.” Rasmussen added it also lacks pullouts for traffic, and is generally in poor shape.
The only director present to offer defense of Miller Capilano was Whistler Councillor Jen Ford, who said she had rarely not seen maintenance work on Highway 99 in her years of living in the area, positing long-term potholes in the Whistler area are more likely simply re-opening every year.
“It feels like they’re not doing anything, but that’s not the case,” Ford said, but she was alone in her sentiments.
Rasmussen also brought up changes in the climate as a growing factor in signing contracts, noting annual shifts in conditions threw out what had previously been more predictable maintenance schedules.
“This whole climate-change era of dealing with those major impacts needs to be reflected in those contracts, that there’s extra money or extra something to be able to address those while still being able to maintain all the regular work that has to occur,” she said.
“[The Duffey] has some geotechnical complexities and we’re always going to be dealing with that; it's important for emergencies and it's important for economic development because it's one of the main ways that tourists come up from Vancouver, they go through Lillooet and then they head on over to Alberta.”
The issue of emergency access stood out: The Duffey is the northern exit route for the Sea to Sky corridor, and directors noted the vulnerability of the region if the southern route was blocked and they had to rely on the Duffey.
If the southern route was blocked, the Duffey is “our only way in or out of here other than the Highline and the Hurley—and that’s suspect at best,” Mack said.
He highlighted emergency access as a key way to get the issue of the Duffey noticed at a higher level of government, because if the southern route was compromised, “everything coming into our corridor is going to come over the Duffey … and that road, well, it’s a mess, to be polite about it.”
Directors discussed moving the issue to the board level of the SLRD, and taking it to the provincial government through the local MLA.
Miller Capilano Highway Services is responsible for Highway 99 from Function Junction in Whistler, to Duffey Lake, as well as the Pemberton Meadows Road and Pemberton Portage Road to D’Arcy, together with secondary roads near the SLRD. Highway 99 between Function Junction and Horseshoe Bay is maintained by an affiliate company of Miller Capilano, known as Miller Capilano Maintenance Corporation.
