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Big White official glad to see to see Coquihalla safety improvements

Kelowna - Michael Ballingall said it has been needed for a long time
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A Big White Ski Resort official is happy the Coquihalla is getting safety upgrades.

ѻýWeѻýre incredibly encouraged. This has needed to be done for a long time,ѻý said Michael Ballingall, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Big White Ski Resort.

At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced it would be to make highways safer. These measures include stricter vehicle chain up requirements and fines, investing $1.8 million over the next three years for additional weather stations and road condition signs, enhanced road-maintenance contractor monitoring and auditing and extending winter tire and chain regulations on select highways.

Ballingall said regular road closures have affected the resortѻýs clientele and he believes enforcing existing laws should go some distance to remedying current issues.

ѻýNow that weѻýre making the 18 -wheelers chain up, weѻýre going to make them abide by the law. This will make it a much easier highway to plow, to travel on. The most important thing in our world is to give travellers the confidence that the road is safe, and thatѻýs the problem weѻýre experiencing now.ѻý

ѻýFor us, itѻýs been the biggest problem of the yearѻýVancouver/the Lower Mainland is our biggest market, and weѻýve heard more caution, complaints, uncomfortable potential customers that said theyѻýre not coming because of the conditions of the road and thereѻýs been more cancellations this year because (people) couldnѻýt get through,ѻý said Ballingall.

According to the ministry, this winter saw 830 centimetres of total snowfall at the Coquihalla summit ѻý 114 per cent higher than the 10-year average. While the Kootenay Pass had the highest-ever recorded snowfall of 1,012 centimetres from Oct. 1, 2017, to the end of February 2018 ѻý 148 per cent higher than the 10-year average.

Itѻýs too late in the season to see how the highway changes will affect Big White, but ѻýweѻýll see what happens next year,ѻý he said.

To report a typo, email: edit@kelownacapnews.com.

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carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com

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