Clarke & Guilford Drive Intersection Upgrade and Corridor Trail Extension

The District is launching a project to realign the intersection at Clarke and Guilford Drives, and to add a missing section of Corridor Trail through this area. These upgrades are being undertaken to improve safety for all road and trail users, and improve overall intersection efficiency.

Learn more below, and visit our Frequently Asked Questions that aim to answer questions that have been raised by neighbourhood residents so far. 


August 17 update:

  • Construction scheduled to take place from August 17 to 28
  • Expect delays and single lane alternating traffic
  • Consider planning an alternate around the work area

 

May 15 update:  

Construction is anticipated to begin Monday, May 25. 

  • Expect traffic delays. Efforts will be made to keep delays to a minimum.
  • Consider using an alternate route. 
    • If using Valley Drive, please respect the 50km/h speed limit on this residential street.
  • Watch for and follow the instructions of traffic control personnel.

Clarke and Guildford Intersection

The work involves a reconfiguration of the intersection:

  • The new intersection will allow for free-flow traffic along Guilford Drive to and from Valleycliffe.
  • Southbound traffic on Clarke Drive (from Behrner Drive/Hospital Hill) will now stop at the intersection prior to turning right or left.
  • A left turning lane will be added from Clarke Drive towards Hospital Hill; left-turning traffic will yield to oncoming traffic along Guilford Drive.

These changes are being made to improve safety and efficiency, and reflect a higher volume of traffic travelling to/from Valleycliffe.

A traffic impact study that has looked at current traffic volume as well as anticipated future development in the area (the Scott Crescent development) and corresponding traffic volume, has helped inform the intersection design.

Guilford Clarke Intersection Upgrade map OVERLAY

Corridor Trail 

The District plans to construct a three-metre wide paved, multi-use path along 'lower' Clarke Drive from Highway 99 to Guilford Drive to extend the existing Corridor Trail that connects to Downtown. This trail construction will fill in a gap in the Corridor Trail between Valley Drive and Downtown, and will also connect to the new Waterfront Landing park and development on the west side of the highway. This trail will be protected by a barrier and will include a lit centralized crosswalk.

Impact

During construction, traffic in all directions will be impacted. Residents can anticipate single lane alternating traffic during construction, and should allow extra travel time through the zone.  

Timeline

Detailed designs are in development, and construction is anticipated by summer 2020. Stay tuned here for updates on the project as details are confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Thank you for everyone's questions on this topic. Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn more. 

January 30, 2020

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Comments

  • Kelly kneivel Mar 2, 2020, 9:54 PM (4 years ago)

    Hi jesse,
    Looks pretty OK to me, already lots of good comments too, and yes please mega roundabout. A few to add.
    1) why not cut into the steep bank on the school side and widen the road a bit (lock blocks sort of thing might not be too crazy expensive and might give you another lane), giving you more room to work with and to extend the left turn lane into HH, traffic to VC could just cruise right on by. Zoom. Might make the left onto hwy 99 a bit less weird too.
    2) the little building/pump house thing has a little maintenance road to the n side of it. People just use this to turn r from VC to HH. A barrier would make sense to prevent this silliness. Better yet, a nail strip! OK just a barrier.
    3) out of scope, but the one lane dirt road that eventually gets 2 laned and widened for access to redbridge, that sucker should be wide enough for city buses so that the bus can go up and or down there and serve that population, it might not need to go all the way up and around Northridge/vista for the 50 houses in hospital hill, better to serve the 5 million people in redbridge. I heard the current plan might be too narrow for that though? Perish the thought.
    4) while we are on a wild tangent, traffic calming in HH starting with a 30km/h limit and other traffic calming measures would be much appreciated. I'm afraid to let my kid walk on the local streets.
    5) best for last - please build a sweet bike jump in view of the highway so people have something cool to look at (people doing sweeeet jumps) while driving by. Maybe a kicker over the highway??
    Thanks
    Kelly
    Northridge drive.

  • Jesse Brown Feb 20, 2020, 11:50 AM (4 years ago)

    Good Afternoon,

    The current configuration of the intersection is designed to make sure that traffic does not back up onto highway 99. The proposed change will result in traffic backing up onto highway 99 and will represent a risk to people turning left onto Clarke Drive. I would not recommend this as a solution to improve traffic flow from Valleycliffe. You may solve one problem but create a more dangerous configuration.

    An alternative solution is to create a traffic circle around the pump house (existing building) that would be large enough not to restrict traffic coming off the highway and would also improve traffic flow on Guilford.

    Regards
    Jesse

  • Christina R Feb 13, 2020, 5:53 PM (4 years ago)

    I am disappointed that there has not been a public meeting to discuss the changes that us Valleycliffe/Hospital Hill residents are going to go through.
    Please can you organize one.

  • Toby Foord-Kelcey Feb 13, 2020, 4:19 PM (4 years ago)

    Other people have already covered most of the points that I would make but I will reiterate then anyway.

    1. The notion that someone might want to turn left from Clark into Guildford (travelling from Hospital Hill to Valleycliffe) seems to have been wholly overlooked.

    2. There are obvious reasons why the original designers of this intersection prioritised traffic to/ from Squamish Hospital, which surely don't need spelling out (imminent births, trauma emergencies, etc)

    3. The population of Hospital Hill residents is set to rise substantially once the Scott Crescent condos are built.

    4. Valleycliffe residents already have access to an alternative entrance/ exit to/from the 99 at the casino.

    5. At peak times, backed-up traffic attempting to exit at the 99 intersection will likely reach all the way back to the Guildford/ Clark intersection, making that exit unuseable. The current arrangement has more capacity for backed-up traffic.

    6. It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that District of Squamish can never build enough bike lanes. However in this case, there is already the Valleycliffe Trail from the 99 to Valleycliffe passing below View Place and over to the Backyard pub which addresses most residents' actual needs.

  • Mike Feb 12, 2020, 12:47 PM (4 years ago)

    I think the hospital should be given priority access?

    Also if flow is required there is lots of room here for a round about.

  • Brian Luscombe Feb 10, 2020, 10:38 AM (4 years ago)

    There is obviously no easy solution to keep everyone happy to the traffic flow problem. Valleycliffe continues to grow and so does Hospital Hill with the planned Scott Crescent development, traffic flow to and from both areas will increase.

    A roundabout would need to be so large to allow traffic to free flow that this solution might not be practical. More than 2 lanes in and out of HH might also be impractical due to the space required.

    Under the present plan the possibility of a car or cars existing HH to VC could back up everyone leaving HH, a potentially larger problem once Scott Crescent cars are added to the flow.

    The area going to HH appears to have a small holding area, a potentially large backup problem once Scott Crescent traffic flow is added to the mix. This could reflect right back to the highway traffic light.

    VC has always been the larger area but did someone early on in Squamish's history see the necessity to have the traffic flow in the favour of ambulances and cars going to/from the hospital. Is it short sighted and detrimental that this traffic flow now be changed?

  • Vincent Hoog Feb 9, 2020, 5:48 PM (4 years ago)

    With regards to the Clarke&Gilford intersection proposed changes.
    I really worry about the ambulance access and flow through this intersection. I get that the Valley Cliff traffic is higher volume then the Hospital Hill area but this does not seem like a very well thought out plan. It becomes a bottle neck for ambulance movement to and from the hospital. And what about the increase in volume once the Red Point development is in?
    The first solution off the top of my head would be a traffic circle or round-about. We have them in the highlands and in the industrial area and they work very well. In fact many countries around the world use round-abouts and the they work very well at maintaining high volume traffic flow from all directions. Or come up with a different three way intersection design then the one in your plans.
    Cheers!

  • Molly L Feb 9, 2020, 3:29 PM (4 years ago)

    You mention detailed designs are in development. Who will be doing this? The District Engineering dept or outside consultants?

    • Gary Buxton, General Manager at the District Feb 10, 2020, 4:44 PM (4 years ago)

      The designs are being done by a consulting engineer that we use on many District projects, supervised closely by our Capital Projects Manager.

  • Jo Anna Gorton Feb 8, 2020, 6:50 PM (4 years ago)

    I am concerned about the change in traffic pattern here. While I support the need for a better bike lane, I am concerned that with the Scott Crescent development the access to Clark Drive from Behner will be slow and restrictive.

    Currently there is free flow on Clarke and from Clarke to east bound on Guildford (incoming to Valleycliffe). The planned changes will give free flow driving from Guilford Dr onto Clarke and have the traffic from the Hospital and Hospital Hill stoping/yielding to Valleycliffe Traffic. This will reduce the current three free flow lanes to just two.

    The planned Scott Crescent Development by Kingswood is going to add 10,000 sq meters of commercial space and close to 500 residential units to the residential area serviced by Clarke/Behrner Drives. This will more than triple the current residential traffic to Hospital Hill as well as adding significant commercial traffic to the load on Clarke Dr. This vehicular traffic only has one access point, Clarke Dr.

    The district its making the claim that traffic from Valleycliffe should have free flow because of the greater number of residential units in Valleycliffe versus Hospital Hill. However, with the planned development of Scott Crescent by Kingswood, Clarke Dr traffic load will most likely exceed Guilford's. Valleycliffe residents also have two access points, Clarke Dr and Valley Dr.

    The proposed designated left turn lane for incoming traffic to Hospital Hill appears to be quite short. During peak hours this lane will most like start to clog the free flow of incoming traffic to Valleycliffe. With the increased demands on Clarke Drive and the the lack of free flow to Hospital Hill there may even be back-up on the highway for access to Clarke Dr.

    The proposed changes to the intersection of Clarke and Guildford make no sense given the new Scott Crescent development. These changes will significantly worsen traffic congestion once the Scott Crescent development begins.

  • Jo Anna Gorton Feb 8, 2020, 6:50 PM (4 years ago)

    I am concerned about the change in traffic pattern here. While I support the need for a better bike lane, I am concerned that with the Scott Crescent development the access to Clark Drive from Behner will be slow and restrictive.

    Currently there is free flow on Clarke and from Clarke to east bound on Guildford (incoming to Valleycliffe). The planned changes will give free flow driving from Guilford Dr onto Clarke and have the traffic from the Hospital and Hospital Hill stoping/yielding to Valleycliffe Traffic. This will reduce the current three free flow lanes to just two.

    The planned Scott Crescent Development by Kingswood is going to add 10,000 sq meters of commercial space and close to 500 residential units to the residential area serviced by Clarke/Behrner Drives. This will more than triple the current residential traffic to Hospital Hill as well as adding significant commercial traffic to the load on Clarke Dr. This vehicular traffic only has one access point, Clarke Dr.

    The district its making the claim that traffic from Valleycliffe should have free flow because of the greater number of residential units in Valleycliffe versus Hospital Hill. However, with the planned development of Scott Crescent by Kingswood, Clarke Dr traffic load will most likely exceed Guilford's. Valleycliffe residents also have two access points, Clarke Dr and Valley Dr.

    The proposed designated left turn lane for incoming traffic to Hospital Hill appears to be quite short. During peak hours this lane will most like start to clog the free flow of incoming traffic to Valleycliffe. With the increased demands on Clarke Drive and the the lack of free flow to Hospital Hill there may even be back-up on the highway for access to Clarke Dr.

    The proposed changes to the intersection of Clarke and Guildford make no sense given the new Scott Crescent development. These changes will significantly worsen traffic congestion once the Scott Crescent development begins.

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