Editor:
More traffic-related deaths on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park and no reaction by government or public.
On July 18, a vehicle crash on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park sent two occupants to hospital in critical condition. Then on Aug. 7, a two-vehicle crash involving six people and resulting in fatalities on the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park tied up traffic for about eight hours and involved multiple emergency responders, STARS air ambulance and ground ambulances. Apart from the grief and impact on those involved in the collisions and their families, delays and inconvenience to traffic and economy are estimated at over $90,000 per hour.
In addition, four grizzlies have been killed this year on this stretch of highway, including on June 6 when an incorrigible white female grizzly commonly referred to as Nakoda, who learned early on to access the highway fenced right-of-way to feed on dandelions, and her cubs were killed on it. The impact on the national park’s grizzly population with the loss of a breeding female is yet to be felt.
The solution to these totally preventable tragedies might be the exception to the old adage “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”.
Twin the remainder of this dangerous two-lane highway through Yoho National Park in combination with the necessary highway wildlife collision mitigations involving wildlife crossings and fencing designed to deter bears and the result will be a win-win-win. Motorist safety improved, wildlife-vehicle collisions minimized, and overall improvement to highway reliability.
Twinning the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park has seen a six-fold decrease in head-on collisions and fatalities and an overall 80 per cent reduction in wildlife-vehicle collisions.
The time for simply accepting these totally preventable tragedies as inevitable or talking about the situation is over. Parks Canada completed the necessary design and environmental impact assessments back in 2019. The time has now come to act and implement.
Terry McGuire,
Calgary
