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VICTORIA – Residents of the Sunshine Coast will benefit from $400,000 to improve travel and safety on Forest Service roads on Texada Island and the Sechelt Peninsula, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell and Community Development Minister Kevin Krueger announced today.
“Road safety improvements are necessary on these roads,” said Bell. “Rural residences and recreation traffic make these roads incredibly busy at peak times.”
The 30-kilometre Texada Forest
Service road provides access to 25 year-round residences on Texada Island. The
road also provides access to the
“The Texada Forest Service Road is used as a critical link to the South
Texada Island Provincial Park, Bob Lake and Shingle Beach,” said Krueger. “Improvements to the road will provide safer access for residents and
visitors to these recreational sites. We’re pleased that the provincial
government is providing the funds needed to ensure that this road is safe for
the people in our rural communities who rely on it.”
On the Sechelt Peninsula, three
Forest Service roads are being upgraded. The North Lake Forest Service road
provides access to over 25 year-round residences and the heavily used Klein
Lake recreation site. Work on 4.1 kilometres of the road will reduce environmental
risks from sedimentation and a slipping road prism through road surfacing,
widening, ditching, and bank stabilization.
The Halfmoon-Carlson Forest Service
road provides access to the Big Tree Recreation site and Spipiyus
Provincial Park. Work on a 2.5-kilometre section of this road will consist of
surfacing and widening to make the road safer.
The Sechelt Gray Forest Service road
provides access to the Gray Creek community watershed and both the Richardson
Lake and Tetrahedron provincial parks. Work on 10 kilometres of this road will
consist of surfacing, associated ditching and culvert replacement to minimize
risk of water sedimentation.
British Columbia’s 55,000-kilometre
network of Forest Service roads is bigger than the provincial highway system.
As first announced by Premier Campbell at the 2008 Union of B.C. Municipalities
convention, the Ministry of Forests and Range is providing $20 million to
improve travel conditions on Forest Service roads that serve as crucial
transportation links to rural communities and recreation sites. The Province of British Columbia and
the Government of Canada committed on April 7, 2009 to a further $20 million in
shared funding for additional Forest Service road upgrades that will be
announced in the coming months.
New road maintenance funding is the latest in a series of initiatives to improve safety on Forest Service roads, which include the establishment of radio protocols, speed enforcement through expanded use of radar guns, and the expansion of the Vehicle Identification Plates Program.
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Public Affairs Officer Ministry of Forests and Range 250 387-4592 |
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