The Whistler Cycling Club (WCC) is calling on B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit to improve conditions along certain sections of Highway 99 that it says would make the road safer for cyclists.
In a Jan. 10 letter that was also shared with Whistler’s mayor and council, WCC president Alan Riches offered the results of the club’s annual assessment of Highway 99 cycling infrastructure in the Whistler area, completed during the biking season, from April through October.
“One of the demotivating factors for road cyclists in the area is the hazard and danger of highway traffic,” Riches said in a follow-up phone call. “As road cyclists, we don’t have a lot of choice as to where to go. We can use municipal roads, and we do a lot of times, but if you want to go on a group bike ride where you can paceline for a while, you need a better surface.”
Key to those better surfaces is shoulder-clearing. Last year, the club noted the initial sweep of winter gravel on Highway 99 in Whistler took place in mid-April, more than a month earlier than in 2023, a timeline the WCC wants to see maintained going forward.
“The quality of sweeping was generally good, with the exception of northbound from Function to Spring Creek where there was considerable gravel on the shoulder throughout the cycling season,” the letter said.
The stretch of Callaghan Valley Road to Whistler Olympic Park was singled out as especially in need of repair. A feature of the annual GranFondo Whistler bike race, the WCC said the shoulder and vehicle lanes are “badly cracked and continue to deteriorate.” The club noted repaving was done in several short sections last year, including the approach to the Callaghan Creek bridge.
“Callaghan Road is just in terrible shape,” said Riches.
Following the first shoulder sweep of the season, the club wants to see annual repainting of fog lines in Whistler, a concern reiterated by Councillor Cathy Jewett at the Jan. 21 council meeting after no fog-line painting was done in 2024.
“I find the lack of fog lines here in Whistler to be a real problem,” she said. “As someone who cycles to Alta Vista, there’s a spot where the highway narrows to less than three feet and there’s no white line. It’s kind of scary going through that one spot … I hope we see that painting done this year. For it to go two years would be absolutely ridiculous.”
The WCC also lobbied for improved signage along Highway 99, particularly bicycle crossing signs at intersections like the ones installed in Squamish. The letter noted bike stencil pavement markings were used previously at some Whistler intersections but have since worn off.
The club recommended installing southbound “Share the Road” signs near Village Gate Boulevard in the village and Lake Placid Road in Creekside to supplement existing signs in those locations, as well as both north- and south-facing signs between Whistler and Squamish. There are currently three northbound and one southbound “Share the Road” signs within Whistler, and none on the way to Squamish.
In June, new rules came into effect in B.C., requiring highway drivers to maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 metres when passing a cyclist. The WCC wants to see signage erected in Whistler advising motorists of the new regulations.
Several officials commended the work done by the WCC at last week’s council meeting, including Coun. Jeff Murl.
"Reading this letter, it shows me that organizations like this, volunteers who have a passion can get together and advocate and help us advocate to other levels of government,” he said. “Good work to them.”
Learn more about the WCC here.
