VANCOUVER - The highway between Whistler and Vancouver was closed again briefly Monday, raising questions about what will happen if the route gets blocked during the 2010 Olympic Games.
The Sea to Sky Highway was closed for most of the day Sunday after tonnes of rock and dirt swept down onto the road near West Vancouver.
Then on Monday, a crash between an empty bus and a logging truck near Whistler closed the highway again for a brief period.
Wayne Keiser, who is responsible for transportation and logistics for the committee organizing the Games, said officials are looking at contingency plans.
Those could include ensuring competition schedules are flexible and coming up with alternate ways to get spectators between venues in the two jurisdictions.
But he said the $600-million upgrade to the highway will go a long way to easing concerns about a repeat of the closures.
"We're confident that the extensive widening, realignment and safety measures included in the...highway improvement project will greatly reduce the chances of disruptions at Games time," Keiser said.
Upgrading the highway was a key part of the 2010 bid. International Olympic officials had expressed concern about the winding roadway that's often only two lanes wide.
The highway, formally known as Highway 99, is also the only practical route between Vancouver and Whistler.
There is an alternative, but it's a twisted, rugged backcountry road that takes the better part of a day to travel.
Construction crews had been blasting in the area of Sunday's slide as recently as late last week as part of the highway upgrade.
However, it's unclear what caused the slide.
