This winter’s banner ski season in B.C. has likely added to traffic headaches for skiers and snowboarders travelling to and from Whistler, not to mention the people who make the popular ski resort town their home.
While the Sunday exodus of weekend skiers has always tied up traffic in Whistler, locals said now it can take up to an hour to get into and out of the village anytime on Saturday or Sunday.
One resident told Global News it “can take me over 45 minutes to do the 100 metres to get to the highway.”
Resort municipality officials have taken notice. A year-long look at traffic has resulted in a series of recommendations that include increasing transit use and assigning dedicated flaggers to help during peak times.
Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden said they want to avoid the traffic seen in other ski resort towns like Vail, Colorado where travellers can face an eight-hour commute to the airport.
“We don’t ever want to be faced with anything remotely close to that,” she said.
Karen Goodwin of Tourism Whistler said the problem is mostly being felt by locals and regional travellers. International visitors have yet to notice the problems, she said.
“They’re coming up from the airport, they’re not coming during the morning rush when people are coming to work or it’s a powder day and they’re leaving to get back to the airport when people are leaving the ski hill.”
A meeting will be held Tuesday night to discuss the future of transportation in Whistler. Decisions are expected by city council later this year.
– With files from Aaron McArthur