A northern B.C. MLA says the provincial government should reclassify Highway 16 to higher maintenance standards in response to the large number of fatalities this winter, combined with the growing amount of industrial traffic along the route.
Since November, there have been 16 deaths along the 1,050-kilometre stretch from Prince Rupert to the Alberta border - eight of them in 11 days - and most have been collisions between passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, often semis pulling trailers.
Given those numbers, it's time Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone use his discretion to reclassify the highway to an A rating from a B rating, Doug Donaldson, the NDP MLA for Stikine, said Wednesday.
Doing so would mean lower thresholds for deploying plows and sanding trucks:
- The maximum allowable snowfall would be four centimetres, rather than six, for one lane in each direction; eight cm rather than 10 for second lanes; and 12 cm rather than 10 for all other lanes.
- The timeline for plowing slush and removing broken compact snow would be 90 minutes, down from two hours;
- Work on removing compacted snow and ice would begin within two days of the last measurable snowfall as opposed to three;
- Snow along the highway's shoulders would be removed within four days of the last measurable snowfall rather than six.
"With the shoulders infringing on the traveling lanes, the transport trucks are starting to hug the centreline and the passenger vehicle, as you're coming up to a transport truck, you've got very little room for error," Donaldson said. "That's a two-day difference and you can imagine the amount of traffic in two days that would maybe have to face these unsafe conditions."
The growing amount of large trucks that have come with the major natural resource projects underway in this region has made an already challenging drive for many only worse, according to Donaldson.
"It's led to some unsafe conditions and I think the minister has some discretion to improve that situation and it's incumbent on him to do that because, when safety is involved, that should be one of the primary concerns," Donaldson said.
Given the contribution the projects will make to B.C.'s economy, it's only fair that more money be spent on winter highway maintenance in this region, Donaldson also argued.
Donaldson said he had written a letter on the issue that will be sent to Stone this week. He also plans to raise the issue when the legislature is back in session on Feb. 11.
Nechako-Lakes Liberal MLA John Rustad said he has talked to Stone about the idea.
"Highway 16 will continue to become a major transportation corridor and I think right now it's probably the busiest class B highway that we have in the province from an industrial perspective, certainly from the stretch going west," Rustad said.
Stone did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Ministry staff said the majority of Highway 16 is maintained at class B, but portions, including main arterials through cities and the stretch between the BC-Alberta border and Tete Jaune Cache is at a class A level.
