Another Highway 99 closure raises Olympic fears

A rock slide closed the highway to Whistler for seven hours Thursday, just as officials of the International Olympic Committee were holding a news conference in Vancouver on preparations for the 2010 Winter Games.

It was the second time this week that a rock slide has closed Highway 99, a vital transportation link between Vancouver and Whistler that will be used by Olympic athletes, officials and spectators when the Games begin.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation called the highway closure between the communities of Lions Bay and Furry Creek a construction delay.According to reports,construction crews wereblasting and unintentionally causedthe rock slide that forced the closure.

The seven-hour closure took place duringpeak morning and afternoon traffic periods.

John Furlong, the head of the Olympic organizing committee in Vancouver, said officials are working on contingency plans in case the Sea-to-Sky Highway, as the link is known,is blocked during the Games.

While upgrades to the highway are well under way, organizers still want to ensure there are backupplans for getting people to sporting events on time, he said.

Meanwhile, Olympic organizers have secured 93 per cent of the rooms neededtohouse media and spectators duringthe Games, Furlong said.

Among the otherchallenges Games officials are facing iscreating a television schedule that allows sports to be broadcast in prime time to audiences around the world, Furlong said.

Certain sports are a huge draw in some countries and people want to tune in at specific times, he said, comparingthe taskto trying to stage close to 100 World Cups over a couple of weeks.