VANCOUVER — Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games organizers are preparing to release their Olympic transportation plan this week for an area where rush-hour traffic can last half the day.

One of the biggest concerns for organizers will be the Sea-to-Sky Highway, considered the weakest link in the Games transportation plan.

Thousands of spectators, athletes, officials, media and residents will be using the 126 kilometre route, where a single accident can snarl traffic for hours and a rock slide can stop vehicles for days.

Jordan Sturdy, the mayor of Pemberton, just north of Whistler, says many residents depend on the highway to get to work, to hospital and other services, and Games organizers will have to heavily sell the plan to a public still not 100 per cent behind the games.

A tentative plan for the city of Vancouver was released last year showing Olympic-priority lanes will be created in the downtown core, wide scale parking restrictions will be put in place and several downtown streets will be closed altogether.

Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs says there is bound to be frustration for residents, but there would be nothing worse for an Olympic athlete to miss an even because they were stuck in traffic.