By Donald Mostat I write this letter to express my viewpoint regarding the “Highway to Squamish” in the July 24 issue of the Peak.
I disagree with the previous writer in many areas of his composition. While he may spend some of his leisure time hiking in the backcountry, he does it on roads and trails that were built by previous investors such as loggers, who entered a land that did not have roads. If they would have waited for roads or weighed the costs, there would be no roads there today for leisure hikes and backcountry exploring.
There is mention of the extreme heights and snow conditions. None of the proposed roads is any higher than Mount Washington, and there was no one living around that mountain until the roads were developed. There are only two places on the proposal that meet the challenges suggested and one of those can easily be overcome with a tunnel. The snow conditions are no worse than the conditions of the Coquihalla Highway, which was one of the arguments against it. It was built by men of vision. It was paid for many years before expected and the toll was removed much sooner than planned.
A short 60 years ago, the Hope Princeton highway and the Fraser Canyon route were considered extremely dangerous in winter. They were both primarily two-lane highways and in many places, single-lane. Tunnelling was required on these with lesser equipment than available today. They have proven to be necessary to the east-west corridor.
I suggest the proposed road will make a similar contribution.
I, too, talk to road builders. Most look forward to the challenge. I have not talked to anyone who expects a four-lane highway. Many people look forward to driving to the Interior without paying the exorbitant ferry fares and battling the 60-kilometre parking lot from Horseshoe Bay to Abbotsford. Many travellers are not going to Vancouver, but to places beyond and the rest of Canada.
The ferry service today is the best it will ever be and the rates are the cheapest they are ever going to be. Fares are going to keep going up. I would far sooner pay a toll for a direct drive out of here, than pay the ever-increasing ferry fare. I disagree with the previous writer that a road would not increase traffic. I suggest it would more than double traffic. Many people do not travel simply because of the ferry fares and times. I am one of them.
The roads to Prince Rupert, to Bella Coola, to Kitimat and the Alaska Highway were built by men of vision for people with vision. I travelled some of those roads during their formative years. Today they are great highways. There are hundreds of roads across Canada that were once just a “fantasy” of some visionary. Thank God for those men. I say, let’s get on with it and get-er-done.
Donald Mostat has been a resident of Powell River for nearly 50 years and can remember what the road up to Lund and down to Vancouver was like back then.
