Highway 99 is the spine of daily life in Squamish, carrying school drop-offs, work commutes, and weekend visitors through our neighbourhoods. That is why any report of a wrong-way vehicle on the Sea to Sky hits close to home. A local resident recently experienced a wrong-way driving incident, and while such events are uncommon, they are high-risk and remind us that road safety is a community responsibility shared by drivers, police, and the transportation ministry.
Wrong-way driving is among the most dangerous situations on any roadway because it can lead to severe head-on collisions at highway speeds. In British Columbia, police and road-safety agencies stress a few consistent points: vigilance at on- and off-ramps, obeying signage without exception, and phoning 911 if an immediate risk to public safety is observed. Even without the detailed timeline of this recent encounter, the takeaways for our town are clear—accuracy in signage and markings, attentive driving, and quick reporting all matter.
Squamish sits on a complex stretch of Highway 99 that blends divided and undivided segments, signalized intersections, turning pockets, and driveways that feed into the corridor. Traffic ebbs and flows with weather, tourism, and construction, and night driving can challenge visibility when glare, rain, or fog reduce contrast on signs and pavement markings. The provincial highway is under the jurisdiction of the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, with maintenance and day-to-day hazard response handled by the ministry’s contracted road-maintenance provider for the Sea to Sky. The District of Squamish manages local streets that connect to the highway, but design and signage on Highway 99 itself are provincial.
The Sea to Sky corridor has seen significant safety work over the past 15 years, including the major upgrades leading into the 2010 Winter Games. Many sections were widened, sightlines improved, and new medians, barriers, rumble strips, and delineators added. Since then, the province and its maintenance contractor have continued routine and seasonal work that supports safety: refreshing line paint, replacing worn or damaged signs, adding reflective posts and chevrons where warranted, and trimming vegetation for sight distance. Wrong-way prevention rests on several of those same basics—clear “Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signs at ramp terminals, prominent directional arrows on the pavement, and consistent lane control at intersections that feed into the highway.
Enforcement and education are the other pillars. The BC Highway Patrol and Squamish RCMP run regular patrols along Highway 99 and traditionally increase enforcement during long weekends and seasonal campaigns. Province-wide initiatives led by ICBC and police—such as CounterAttack for impaired driving and distracted driving enforcement blitzes—reinforce the behaviours that prevent high-consequence events, from wrong-way entries to lane departures. Speed, impairment, and inattention remain leading contributors to serious crashes in BC. These factors also heighten the risk that a driver might misread road cues at night or in poor weather, so prevention is not only about infrastructure—it is also about habits behind the wheel.
For residents wondering what practical steps can reduce the chance of wrong-way encounters, the measures are straightforward. On the engineering side, they include reviewing whether key access points would benefit from larger or additional “Do Not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signage, adding or refreshing pavement arrows and lane-use markings near highway approaches, improving lighting or sign reflectivity where visibility drops, and checking that median islands or channelization clearly direct traffic the right way. Some jurisdictions also deploy enhanced countermeasures—like retroreflective sleeves on sign posts, rumble strips leading up to exit-only lanes, or LED-bordered warning signs—at locations with a history of wrong-way attempts. The ministry uses national and provincial standards for these tools and can consider site-specific upgrades when evidence supports them.
On the operations and enforcement side, there is a role for continued targeted patrols at night and during shoulder seasons when fewer vehicles are on the road and a mistake may go unnoticed longer. Dash camera footage submitted to police can be useful after the fact. Public education also helps: a short, locally focused reminder campaign about reading lane-use signs, staying right except to pass, and never using highway medians or emergency openings for turnarounds can go a long way, especially for newer drivers or visitors unfamiliar with the corridor.
For individual drivers, the advice is basic but effective. Approach highway access points at a conservative speed and take an extra moment to confirm lane direction. Avoid quick or improvised turns near the highway—if you miss a turn, continue to a safe, legal location to change direction. If you become uncertain about lane orientation at night or in heavy rain, pause where safe, recheck signage, and only proceed when you are fully confident. If you encounter a vehicle travelling the wrong way or see a situation develop that could lead to it, keep distance, do not attempt to intervene directly, and call 911 if there is an immediate risk. For non-urgent concerns—like a faded sign, obscured sightline, or confusing marking—residents can report highway maintenance issues to the ministry’s contractor and traffic safety concerns to the provincial ministry. Dangerous driving that has already occurred can be reported to police through their non-emergency channels, including with supporting dash camera video when available.
It is worth recognizing that the Sea to Sky is busier and more varied than most rural highways. Visitors may arrive from jurisdictions with different signage conventions; work zones shift layouts; and weather can change within minutes between Lions Bay and Brackendale. All of this reinforces the need for clear, consistent cues on the road, frequent maintenance of reflective surfaces, and steady reminders to slow down and scan ahead. It also means community feedback is valuable. Residents are often the first to notice a sign that is shielded by new leaves, a lane arrow that has faded over winter, or nighttime glare that makes a particular approach hard to read. Sharing those observations helps agencies prioritize where small fixes can make a big difference.
We have asked Squamish RCMP and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure whether any review or short-term measures are planned in response to the recent wrong-way report in our area. Officials had not provided specific comment by publication time. We will update readers if the ministry initiates a signage or markings review at local access points, or if police launch targeted enforcement or education tied to wrong-way prevention along Highway 99.
In the meantime, residents looking for official information can monitor DriveBC for highway advisories and the ministry’s channels for any planned safety works on the Sea to Sky corridor. The District of Squamish continues to share notices about local road projects that may affect highway approaches. For enforcement and public safety updates, follow Squamish RCMP and BC Highway Patrol. If you have a road-maintenance concern on Highway 99, contact the provincial maintenance contractor for the Sea to Sky; if you witness an immediate danger on the road, call 911.
This is a good moment for Squamish to keep the conversation going. Thoughtful driving, timely maintenance, and data-driven improvements are all part of the solution. With attention from drivers, steady work from transportation agencies, and practical input from the community, we can reduce the chance of a wrong-way encounter and keep Highway 99 as safe as possible for everyone who relies on it.
We will share updates once official responses are available from Squamish RCMP and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, including any confirmed safety improvements under consideration for Highway 99 in and around Squamish.
