When a landslide or crash shuts down the Sea-to-Sky Highway, there's no detour. Everyone just waits. We need your request on record to bring this to the Minister of Transportation. And if enough people need out right now, we may be able to help today: getting people across, or running food, water, and sleeping bags to the front of the line.
The Sea-to-Sky Highway runs along steep, exposed terrain between Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler. Rockfall, landslides, flooding, and collisions close it without much warning, sometimes for twenty minutes, sometimes for most of a day. There's no detour. Everyone on the road just waits.
Howe Sound runs alongside the same stretch of highway that closes most often. Squamish Water Taxi already operates on that water, out of Squamish, BC. A closure shuttle would let people bypass the worst-affected stretch by boat instead of sitting in a stopped lane, even if it's just to get to a working ride on the other side.
Every closure of Highway 99 leaves the Sea-to-Sky corridor with zero alternate route. Commuters miss work, patients miss appointments, families sit stranded for hours with nowhere to go. Howe Sound is sitting right there, unused, every single time it happens.
This page came out of a conversation about transportation resilience in the corridor. We want to turn it into a real pilot proposal backed by actual numbers: how many people this affects, how often, and what it costs them. That's what gets a meeting with the Minister of Transportation, and it's what this list is for.
The ask is simple: add your name, and tell us why you needed around a closure. Real stories from real people are what turn an idea into a funded pilot.
If enough requests come in during an active closure, we may be able to act right away: getting people physically across Howe Sound, or running supplies (food, water, sleeping bags) to people stuck at the front of the line. That matters most in winter, when a multi-hour closure can mean people stranded in cold cars overnight.
Whether we can respond, and how, depends on the situation at that moment: timing, how severe the closure is, and what boat and crew we actually have available right then. Nothing is guaranteed. But the more requests we have on record when a closure hits, the better we can judge whether to move.
Not yet. This is a pilot proposal. We're collecting names and real closure stories to bring to the Minister of Transportation and show there's real demand for it.
Squamish Water Taxi, a local, licensed water taxi operator already running trips on Howe Sound out of Squamish, BC.
The Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler runs along steep terrain prone to landslides, rockfall, flooding, and collisions. Closures can last anywhere from under an hour to most of a day, with no detour. Check DriveBC for current conditions.
It helps build the case for the pilot. We may share anonymized excerpts with government decision-makers, but never your contact details without asking first.
Maybe. This list exists first to prove need to government, but if enough requests come in during an active closure, we may be able to respond right away, whether that's moving people across or getting supplies to the front of the line. Whether we can, and how fast, depends on timing, how severe the closure is, and what we have available at that moment. It's not guaranteed. Register with your real situation so we know if that's you.