Tag: Highway 99

Passing Under Highway 99Passing Under Highway 99

July 23, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

At a council meeting in July 1984, council member Terry Rodgers stated, “I am very much afraid someone is going to get killed there.” He was referring to the unmarked crosswalk on Highway 99 between the Village site and the Whistler Golf Course. The unofficial crosswalk also connected the Village to the Valley Trail system and so was heavily used. With no marked crossing, pedestrians and cyclists crossing the highway were often unexpected by drivers. Not long before the meeting, Rodgers had noticed long skid marks near the crosswalk left by a large, dual wheel truck.

Rodgers’ concerns about the safety of the crossing, which had no signs for either motorists or pedestrians, was widely shared. A 1983 transportation study called for an underpass, the council sent a letter to the Department of Highways, and WLC Developments Ltd. (the owner of the golf course at the time) promised to discuss the issue at their board meeting. When asked about the safety of the area for the Whistler Question’s “Whistler’s Answers” feature, all three people said no, it was not safe.

The highway underpass under construction, as seen from the golf course parking lot. Whistler Question Collection, 1986

According to Ron Winbow, the district manager for the Department of Highways, crosswalk lines were not an option because Highway 99 was an “arterial road” and the policy on pedestrian crosswalks across highways was that they were reserved for school purposes and were patrolled. Like the earlier transportation study, Winbow suggested that the municipality build and underpass.

Despite worries over the safety of the unmarked crossing, it was another two years before an underpass was constructed. In February 1986, WLC Developments Ltd. called for tenders on the building of an underpass leading off of Whistler Way beneath Highway 99 and an 82-space parking lot near the putting green. The job was expected to cost over $500,000 and be completed in time for the opening of the golf course on May 1. The parking lot was necessary as the lot where golfers had been parking, which also housed the trailers of the Whistler Medical Centre, was slated to become a hotel, with construction beginning in April. (The Whistler Medical Centre was relocated to the basement of Municipal Hall.)

Someone jumps around the underpass. Whistler Question Collection, 1996

Construction of the underpass was underway by April. Because the highway had to be temporarily diverted and a road built to run parallel, the construction timeline was pushed back to ensure the diversion was not in place during the 1986 World Cup races in March. The project was delayed again when work stopped in early May after it was found that the soil under the underpass footing was too soft to support them. Though soil testing had been carried out, it took place in January when the ground by the road was frozen and so only the soil by the parking area had been tested. Though the parking lot had been completed, it could not be accessed until the underpass was complete.

Finally, in September 1986, the underpass connecting the Village to the Valley Trail and the Whistler Golf Course was completed, a few months behind schedule and about $40,000 over budget. With two lanes for vehicles and a raised sidewalk serving as the Valley Trail, the underpass continues to be a much safer approach to both amenities for pedestrians and cyclists (apart from a few incidents with vehicles that proved to be taller than their driver expected).

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A Well-Oiled RoadA Well-Oiled Road

June 6, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

You may spend the day breathing in dust while you are riding in the Whistler Bike Park, but it is unlikely you have to worry about dust every day while hanging out in your yard. However, when Whistler’s roads were all gravel, dust was a major problem throughout the Valley.

Brent Wallace grew up spending weekends at his family cabin in Alta Vista throughout the 1960s and 1970s. When describing the oiling process he said, “Here’s something that people will not believe – used motor oil from cars, trucks and buses was spread on the highway to keep the dust down. Oil trucks would go up and down the highway and through the subdivisions spreading oil to keep the dust down. It was done on an industrial level, you would hire a company or the highways department would oil the highway.” Drivers on Highway 99 would feel lucky when the road had been recently oiled before their trip.

Highway 99 before it was paved. Leidal Collection.

Highway 99 was paved during the summer of 1966 from Squamish to Mons. However, the paving of local roads came far later. You can imagine the mess that the oil would make for cyclists and pedestrians. In 1979, the Whistler Question wrote, “By now, those of you who have dogs, small children, baby strollers, 10-speed bicycles, fast cars and white jogging shoes will have realized that the recently-gravelled shoulders of Highway #99 have been liberally laced with oil from Cheakamus Canyon to Alpine Meadows.”

Despite following the spirit of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, the oiling of the roads was not cheap. In 1979, residents on the west side of Alta Lake were disappointed to hear that Alta Lake Road was not going to be oiled with Whistler’s other residential streets. The municipality decided against it because the process was going to cost $4000 to oil just the residential section of the gravel road.

Even once the town centre was developed, many of the local roads remained dirt. It was not until 1982 that the roads around Alpine were paved to improve access to the newly created Meadow Park. Roads throughout the other local subdivisions followed, while north of Whistler the Duffy Lake Road was not paved until 1992.

You can really see the oil covering the gravel on the side of the road in July 1979. Whistler Question Collection.

It is almost impossible to imagine pouring truck loads of motor oil around Whistler’s pristine lakes and forests today, although this method for dust dampening is still used on dirt roads in some more remote regions of Canada.

While you may come across the odd pothole, dampening the dust on suburban streets is not something we have to worry about anymore. Instead of being poured on the road, used motor oil can be recycled at many of the automotive shops in Function Junction.

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Best in Snow – The Volkswagen BeetleBest in Snow – The Volkswagen Beetle

November 8, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Snow tire season is upon us! Even through snowy and icy conditions you will see all types of vehicle tackling the Sea to Sky Highway today. Fifty years ago, however, one car dominated the snow, and that was the Volkswagen Beetle.

In the 1960s, Volkswagen touted the VW Beetle as the best car for driving in the snow, and North America listened. In one famous commercial a Beetle is seen driving through snowy conditions. The narrator asks “Have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snowplow, drives to the snowplow? This one drives a Volkswagen, so you can stop wondering.”

George Benjamin’s Volkswagen Beetle on Alta Lake. George Benjamin Collection.

At this time, most American-made cars were rear-wheel drive and had their heavy engines at the front, resulting in little weight over the drive wheels and thus less traction. Despite also being rear-wheel drive, the Beetle did better in the snow because the engine was also in the rear, giving the drive wheels more traction for slippery conditions. Somewhat surprisingly, the narrow wheels also seemed to help because the Beetle cut through the snow rather than riding on top.

In 1965, Cliff Jennings bought his 1957 Beetle before heading out west to Alta Lake. It was not a straight forward journey. “When I arrived in Vancouver, nobody had heard about this new area, so I just headed blindly north. Two hours later, in Squamish I got directions and headed up a steep gravel road, arriving eventually at a dead end with a trailhead signposted to Diamond Head. Back in Brackendale, I hung a right and headed blindly north again on what would now be called a 4×4 road. The first sign of civilisation was Garibaldi and Daisy Lake Dam, which the road proceeded over onto a detour around Shadow Lake through huge puddles that nearly drowned my Beetle. Finally, five hours after leaving Vancouver, I arrived at a big slash clearing and a swampy parking lot in pouring rain.” Cliff had made it to the ski resort!

The Volkswagen Beetle is a little harder to recognise in this photo. George Benjamin Collection.

Jim Moodie arrived in Whistler a few months later once the lifts had opened, also driving up in his Volkswagen Beetle. “People remark about the road being bad nowadays but the road then, a lot of it was gravel, and so it was a frightening experience if we were smart enough to think about it but we mostly didn’t. I can remember one day driving up and the car simply stopped moving forward. At least that’s what we thought had happened. When we got out to see what was happening the Volkswagen Beetle was just plowing up a great big snowdrift in front of it so we couldn’t go anymore.” Good in the snow, but not quite a snowplow.

The imagery of the Volkswagen Beetle was so connected to mountain towns that Whistler Mountain’s 20th Anniversary poster featured a red Volkswagen Beetle driving off into the sunset. In the iconic Whistler poster the car is covered in stickers with skis jammed into the bumper.

The iconic 20th Anniversary poster. Whistler Mountain Collection.

With many people sharing similar memories, it is no wonder the photographs of Volkswagen Beetles in the snow are popular prints at the Whistler Museum. You can see some of the Whistler Museum image collection on Smug Mug.

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Highway to (Powder) HeavenHighway to (Powder) Heaven

February 15, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The towering mountains and lush valleys that inspire people to fall in love with the Sea to Sky also create challenges for access. When Myrtle and Alex Philip arrived at John Millar’s cabin in 1911, they had taken a steamer to Squamish, and then walked the rest of the way to Millar’s cabin at present-day Function Junction. With the introduction of the railway to Alta Lake in 1914, the region was opened to more tourism and industry.

Prior to 1965, the road to Whistler was notoriously unreliable. Regular creek crossings were required and the single lane gravel road suffered extreme washouts, as seen in this photo of Cheakamus Canyon in the 50s. Janet Love Morrison collection.

It was not until 1956, however, that a road connected Vancouver to Squamish, and there was not a reliable road to Whistler until the 1960s. To ensure the highway was completed in time for the opening of the lifts in 1965, rumour has it that the Garibaldi Lifts Company gave a single ski to the then-Minister of Highways Phil Gaglardi. He kept this ski in his office as an incentive to complete the road, and was presented with the matching ski upon the completion of the highway.

Crossing creek on the road to Alta Lake (now known as Whistler), south of Pinecrest. Before the highway, numerous creek crossings meant access via car was not possible at many times during the year. Janet Love Morrison collection.

Even once the highway went in, it was still a hair-raising journey. While driving the Sea to Sky in certain conditions today requires confident and experienced winter drivers, imagine if the roads were only plowed once a week. This is what visitors and residents had to contend with for the inaugural season of Whistler Mountain. Only ski fanatics would brave the journey, and you had to be a special type of enthusiast to make the trip on Friday evening before the roads were plowed on Saturday morning.

When you met another car along the single-lane plowed gravel road, there was no room to pass. Both cars were required to stop and snow was dug out of the snow banks to let the smaller car squeeze by. Revellers would spend Friday night at the Cheakamus Inn, watching to see whose cars had survived the rough trip. As Paul Burrows remembers, “Eventually most people ended up at the Inn because after driving that road you needed a drink.”

Even the good sections of road were rough and hard on vehicles. This photo was taken prior to the highway near Pinecrest. Janet Love Morrison collection.

In 1966, one year after construction, Highway 99 was paved from Squamish to Mons and kept clear of snow as much as possible. As we know, that did not eliminate all transport problems. The Squamish Citizen reported in 1987, “Poor visibility, the near eradication of lines along the edge of the highway and the dinginess of the centre line coupled with the spottiness of the cat’s eyes (road reflectors) in many places makes it almost impossible to distinguish the centre line or edge of the road.” Does that sound familiar? The article goes on to recommend imbedding the cat’s eyes in the centre of the road, and suggesting that someone invent fluorescent paint for the road lines.

These solutions (including the invention of fluorescent paint), along with the widening of the road for the 2010 Olympics, have no doubt helped with access and we have seen incredible growth in visitors and residents alike, resulting in far more people using the Sea to Sky Highway. However, where you have mountainous geography and weather that brings amazing snowfalls, road and access continue to be topics of great debate. At least it does not take five hours to get to Costco every visit, unless you make the mistake of leaving on Sunday afternoon!

Narrow road through Cheakamus Canyon. Janet Love Morrison collection.
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