The Sunshine Coast Bypass to Nowhere

Back in 1994 or so, the first leg of the Sunshine Coast Bypass was opened. This 3 kilometre stretch of highway bypasses the winding section of North Road, to droptraffic at the top of a hill, where it joins back onto North Road, before thundering on to points further north west of the Langdale Ferry Terminal. This achieved a two lane race to the top of the hill, where the traffic has to merge with little warning into one lane, before turning left to head to the old highway.

Thirty years later, this highway has not progressed another foot! Neither BC Ferries, whose property this is, nor Highways, can even be bothered to clean the sign.

One of the original concepts of this road, was in case of a natural disaster, similar to the one of the 80s, that took out a section of highway around the Pell Road area of Roberts Creek. That mudslide stopped all traffic east or west bound for a significant period of time, until every excavator, gravel truck, and multitudes of operators, were able to make it passable again. People did not get home for days, and outside of the emergency air service, no one made it to or from the hospital, unless they were already on that side of the slide.

The atmospheric river of 2019 destroyed numerous sections of road once again, but fortunately none of those were our one and only route from tip to tip. Again, many of the good people of the Sunshine Coast took matters into their own hands, shoring up areas that they could, and helping to clean up other areas that they could.

What’s with the arrow on the overhead sign, that shows a right hand turn? It doesn’t say Sprockids Park. So that and a great trail system, is as much of a secret, as the fact the road ends right there. By the look of the shiny white concrete divider, and reflective pylons, someone didn’t notice the lack of a future going straight ahead.

What happened to the local government desire to have an alternate route, at least from the Ferry Terminal to Sechelt, at a minimum? This would allow emergency vehicles fast travel back and forth, with alternate choices, in the case of disaster necessity. It shouldn’t have to be said, that this could save lives!

It seems as though the local governments have been much busier, adding to their own business, in order to justify their existence. Why do we have 3 works yards, 3 parks departments, substantial duplication of heavy equipment, that they shouldn’t even own. When the private sector is 30% more efficient, why are the local bodies competing with our tax dollars, against our local residents? You have far more accountability, that is enforceable with a contract, than with Employment Standards, or against a government union. If a private contractor isn’t fulfilling their obligations, you can fire them!