Many of us travel Highway 99 every day for work, school, and family life. When something goes wrong on this road, it quickly becomes a community concern, not just a traffic delay. A recent wrong-way driving incident involving a local resident has renewed questions about how we keep people safe on the Sea to Sky, how information gets to drivers in time, and what improvements are worth pursuing next.
Highway 99 through Squamish is a provincial corridor owned by the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and patrolled by the RCMP, including BC Highway Patrol. It is also our main link to health care, jobs, and essential services up and down the corridor. That combination—provincial jurisdiction and local reliance—means any safety lapse resonates across town, from morning school runs to late-night shifts.
Wrong-way driving is uncommon, but when it happens the consequences can be severe. In conversations with residents this week, the main themes were familiar: visibility on- and off-ramps, clear signage in poor weather and at night, timely alerts to drivers when there’s a hazard ahead, and steady enforcement against high‑risk behaviours. These are practical concerns, and they align with what provincial and national research has emphasized for years—that road design, driver behaviour, and real-time information all play a role in preventing serious collisions.
A quick refresher on who does what may help frame the discussion. The Ministry plans and funds highway infrastructure and contracts the day-to-day maintenance. Official traffic and incident alerts for provincial highways are posted on DriveBC. Squamish RCMP and BC Highway Patrol handle enforcement and public safety along the corridor. If there is an immediate risk—such as a suspected impaired or wrong-way driver—RCMP advise people to call 911 when it’s safe to do so. For non-emergency hazards like debris or a damaged sign, residents can contact the highway maintenance contractor using the numbers posted on roadside signs or through DriveBC’s “Report a Problem” links.
Community networks also play a role. Many residents lean on local social media groups and neighbourhood chats to understand what’s happening on the highway in real time. Those updates can be helpful, especially when conditions are changing quickly. At the same time, official sources remain the reference point for verified closures, detours, and estimated reopenings. It’s reasonable to expect that any review of recent incidents will look at how public information moves between emergency responders, maintenance crews, the Ministry, and the public—and where it can move faster.
Highway 99 has seen major safety and capacity work over the last two decades, particularly ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Various sections were widened, curves were realigned, rockfall protection was added in known trouble spots, and features such as centreline and shoulder rumble strips were expanded in BC to reduce severe head‑on and run‑off‑road crashes. Maintenance contractors routinely refresh pavement markings and replace signs and delineators. Even so, the corridor today carries more traffic than it did a generation ago, and growth in Squamish and throughout the Sea to Sky has kept pressure on the system. That growth is part of why residents are again asking for a close look at proven, practical steps that can reduce risk now.
On wrong-way risk specifically, experience elsewhere in BC and across Canada points to a few areas that merit attention. Visibility matters: highly reflective “Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signs at ramp terminals, directional arrows on the pavement, and red retroreflective markers facing wrong-way approaches make it harder for mistakes to persist. Lighting at key on- and off-ramps improves legibility in rain and at night. Consistent, high-contrast lane lines and raised pavement markers help drivers read the road in winter conditions. Where geometry is complex—closely spaced ramps, offset intersections, or unusual merges—additional delineators, better placement of guide signage, and periodic audits can catch issues that develop over time.
Enforcement and education are the other half of the equation. ICBC and police agencies consistently identify speed, impairment, and distraction as leading factors in serious crashes province‑wide. On the Sea to Sky, that translates to steady RCMP and BC Highway Patrol presence, targeted seasonal enforcement, and public reminders about planning trips, slowing down in bad weather, and yielding space to emergency and maintenance crews. BC’s “Slow Down, Move Over” rules and the Cone Zone campaign are practical examples already in place to protect roadside workers; the same approach—clear expectations, clear signs, and visible enforcement—helps reduce high‑risk driving in general.
Residents also raised communication as a safety tool, not just a convenience. When a serious incident blocks the highway, timely and repeated messaging helps prevent new queues from forming and reduces secondary collisions. That can include digital message boards at key decision points, consistent DriveBC updates, and coordinated advisories from RCMP and municipalities so drivers know when to turn back to town for services instead of waiting on the shoulder. These are operational practices as much as infrastructure, and they are the sort of changes that can be implemented relatively quickly after a review.
Some community suggestions go further, such as adding more median separation in select undivided sections, improving lighting through dark corridors, or piloting wrong‑way detection systems at higher‑risk ramps that alert both approaching drivers and traffic managers. Others are lower cost but often effective: refreshed paint and markings heading into winter, audits to confirm that ramp signs are not obscured by vegetation, and extra emphasis on legibility at locations with complex geometry or heavy visitor traffic. The Ministry has used many of these measures around BC; the question for Squamish is which mix best fits the conditions we see locally and how quickly they can be rolled out.
It is also worth noting the strong support in Squamish for the people who keep the highway functioning. Maintenance crews, flaggers, tow operators, firefighters, paramedics, and police handle changing weather and difficult scenes with professionalism. Any discussion about improvements should aim to make their work safer and more efficient, too—clearer staging areas, space to set up, and reliable driver compliance when lanes need to be closed.
What happens next? As of publication, official comment on the recent wrong-way incident is pending. We have asked the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and Squamish RCMP whether a signage or markings review is planned at local on‑ and off‑ramps and whether any additional enforcement or public‑information measures are being considered. We will share those responses as they become available.
In the meantime, there are steps residents can take today. If you spot missing or obscured signs, faded markings, or debris, report it to the highway maintenance contractor using the contacts posted on the corridor. For live incident and closure information, check DriveBC before leaving and during your trip. If you encounter a vehicle travelling the wrong way or another immediate threat to public safety, call 911 when safe to do so and follow police instructions. And as always, plan extra time in poor weather, slow down when visibility drops, and give emergency and maintenance crews room to work.
Highway 99 will remain our lifeline for the long term. That makes steady, practical safety improvements—plus clear, timely communication—worth the ongoing attention. Squamish residents have raised thoughtful questions in recent days. The next step is confirming which measures will make the biggest difference here at home, and how quickly they can be put in place.
For verified updates on highway conditions and projects, visit DriveBC and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. For enforcement advisories, check Squamish RCMP and BC Highway Patrol. We will update readers as the Ministry reviews the area for safety improvements and as any new measures are confirmed.
