Thursday, November 15 ~ COLWOOD.
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Recent changes to the lane configuration in the under-construction Mackenzie Interchange area of Highway 1 (Trans Canada Highway) have caused increased traffic congestion during commuter traffic periods, says the City of Colwood.
Meanwhile, outside of morning and evening commutes, the traffic flow is generally smooth, including two left turn lanes onto Mackenzie from Highway 1.
The so-called Trans Canada ‘pinch point’ at the construction area sees vehicles from five West Shore municipalities as well as the Malahat (with traffic from upisland) heading toward Saanich, Victoria and beyond — all converging into two southbound lanes at the provincially-managed Trans Canada highway. Traffic backs up into Colwood from that point.
In 2017 Colwood coordinated the first meeting between local mayors and the BC Minister of Transportation, to work toward completion of an uninterrupted priority transit corridor between the West Shore and downtown Victoria. Priority lanes through Colwood are already being planned with BC Transit. These lanes would provide space for development of a future light rail transit line.
Population of the west shore has increased rapidly in recent years, as more people seek relatively affordable housing in the west shore. The map presents population with 2016 census figures which shows Colwood’s population as 16,859 but which is now up to 17,500. Langford’s population is now over 40,000 and Sooke’s population is now over 13,000.
That’s a population of 81,500 if you combine Langford, Colwood, Sooke and View Royal. But not all of those are commuters of course. Meanwhile, MOTI estimates 85,000 vehicles through that intersection each day. See August 10, 2018 West Shore Voice News (page 1): https://islandsocialtrends.ca/printnews-online/2018-COURTESYWATERMARKEDedition-WestShoreVOICENews-V3N41&SVN-V8N30_MCKENZIEINTERCHANGEUPDATEIssue-CopyrightWESTSHOREVOICENEWS-Aug1018.pdf