ROBIN GURNIK holds her daughter Alexandra amongst the branches of a tree lying on top of their 1985 Fo

T VANTO

Test drive the
new Lexus ES300

Automotives: 23

Display Advertising 980-0511

Distribution 986-1337

photo Terry Peters
Tempo. The car was

parked in front of their home in the 300 block of West 16th, North Vancouver, when high winds toppled the tree. There were no in-

juries when the incident occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. See page 3

Shore locations.

$3.5M Porteau Cove emergency facili
criticized as poor ferry dock location

traffic flow in the event of
longed closures of the highway.

THE CONSTRUCTION of a $3.5-million emergency ferry
mooring facility at Porteau Cove north of Horseshoe Bay
came under fire following Ministry of Transportation and

Highways information meetings held locally last week.

The .«formation meetings pres-
ented details of the prop
four-lane upgrading of Highy
99.
The highways department also
outlined a project under way at
Porteau Cove. An emergency
ferry mooring structure bein
at the Howe Sound) site will be
capable of handling a Class-C

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

400-car ferry.

The mooring facility, which is
expected to be operational by the
end of November, is a camponent
Of highways department ts tO
maintain Squamish Hizhway 99

pro-

Last October, Highway 99 was
blocked for two weeks when a
massive rock slide cut the road at
Loggers Creek, 16 kilometres
north of Horseshoe Bay.

Several possible sites, including
Furry Creek, Darrell Bay (Wood-
fibre ferry) and Britannia Beach,

dered for the emergen
ferry dock.

According to Transportation
and Highways regional directar
Dave Cunliffe, Porteau Cove was
picked as the most efficient loca-

tion.

“We evaluated a number of
criteria — one was certainly effi-
ciency, looking at the number of
people per hour we could move.
The obvious thing, the shorter the
trip the more people we can
move,’ Cunliffe said.

When the Loggers Creck slide
blocked the highway last year,
three small ferries working from
Darrell Bay moved approximately
240 s a day. Should the high-
way be blocked for 48 hours or
more, a ferry at Porteau Cove
would move approximately 300
vehicles per hour between the cove
and Horseshoe Bay.

“It's a fantastic improvement,””
Cunliffe said.

The Furry Creek and Britannia

h sites were culed out in part

for details on the effects of the wind on North

because they are privately owned
and slated for other development.
Said Cunliffe, ‘We Icoked at it
from the perspective of total pro-
vincial investment -—- there already
is a big provincial investment at

‘all elect yn result will

Porteau which would have to be
replicated at any other location.”’
The plan for Porteau includes
an upgrading of marine recre-
ational facilities for pleasure
boaters, divers and windsurfers.
“Hopefully we'll never have to
use it so we designed it so that its
biggest function will be to serve

See Critics pase &