Transportation-Ministry Of

Dear British Columbia Ministry of Transportation: I write you to file a formal complaint about the mishandling of the nightly closure of Highway 1 East of Golden starting at 10 pm. We drove from the US and did not know about the closure of Highway 1 to Golden which started at 10 pm. After driving to a spot that was about only 20 mins away from Golden, we were forced to do a 3 hr detour at night. We wasted several gallons of fuel, did 3 extra hours driving at night, and polluted the air. We almost killed a bear on the way and had major accidents!!! We did not sleep until 4 am! Here are my suggestions: 1. The road closure should start at Field, Alberta so that people do not have to waste fuel and 1.5 more hours of driving in the dark to the point of closure. Make sure that tourists are informed about the closure. There is no housing between the closure point and Field. We saw many unfortunate drivers who were turned back. So we were not alone. 2. Say Mountain Time for the closure, since it was not clear. I did not know that part of BC uses Mountain Time. 3. Spell out the alternate route on the board. It was unclear what the alternate route was. In the US it often meant a bypass nearby. In the case of one-lane closure, drivers are sometimes escorted by professionals. Complete closure of a Canadian road artery was unthinkable. 4. The Alternate route is unclear to tourists like us, who are very numerous in the summer. The few words on the electronic display are very difficult to decipher. Tourists have made major contributions to the local economy and the transportation fund. The government ought to take extra effort to inform tourists about road closure.

Very poor on road maintenance would rather let people sit on the highway in there vehicles and not take responsibility for clearing highways so people can get home and be safe when called and ask questions they pass the buck