Highway maintenance concerns expressed at Prince Rupert City Council Session

Road conditions along Highway 16 in the winter made
for some notes from Monday's Council Session

With a tragic death on Highway 16 still on the minds of Council members, Councillor Nick Adey spoke Monday night to the need for continued advocacy by City Council to the province towards property maintenance on the highways. 

Particularly during the challenging Winter months which can bring concerning conditions.

The Councillor spoke to the topic at the end of the Regular Council session.  

"With respect to first extend condolences to family and friends because of a recent loss on Highway 16, losses if we go further towards Terrace. 

And the reason I bring it up is my first point about the weather is that it reinforces the need for us to continue advocating for whatever can be done to improve the safety of those roads in the winter months.

I know in the Consent Agenda there's a point there where the Regional District has sent a letter to that effect. 

So I'm not sure whether we need to either repeat something we've already done, or find some other way to move that advocacy a bit.

But clearly there are times when that highway is very unsafe and it needs to be either safe, or closed. 

And sometimes it does get closed and that's inconvenient.  

But that's better than the alternative if  it's not safe. 

So I would like to see us find a way to move that advocacy along to the province I assume would be the recipient" 

The City's Operations Director Richard Pucci noted as a follow up to those points that  he has a meeting scheduled with the new head of the region for the Ministry in the Northwest and he would raise the concern at that session.

The reference to the North Coast Regional District attention to the issue that the Councillor noted can be reviewed below:

click to enlarge

You can review the Councillors's comments from the City's Video Archive starting at the 37 minute mark.

More notes related to the Monday Council Session can be reviewed from our Council Timeline Feature.

Items of interest related to travel along the Highway 16 corridor can be explored from our archive page.