Monday July 29, 2024 | VIEW ROYAL, BC [Updated 7:05 pm]
by Mary P Brooke, Editor, Island Social Trends
With the non-stop traffic along Highway 1 as the backdrop, today Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Rob Fleming, announced that construction of Highway 1 bus-on-shoulder lanes to serve the west shore region will commence next year.
He was accompanied at the podium by two west shore MLAs: Mitzi Dean (Esquimalt-Metchosin) who has lived in the region for 20 years and has served as MLA since 2017, and Ravi Parmar (Langford-Juan de Fuca) who grew up in the west shore and has served as MLAs since 2023.
Dean will be the NDP incumbent in the new Esquimalt-Colwood for this fall’s BC provincial election and Parmar will be the NDP incumbent in the new Langford-Highlands riding in the October 19 election.
“We’ve worked together on this project for a long time,” said Fleming, with a nod and mention to MLA’s Dean and Parmar.
“This is an investment in people and recognizing where there is growth in communities,” said Dean. “Our government wants to be able to support people in doing their bit for the environment,” said Dean, who cycled from her home in Metchosin to the event today in View Royal.
“It is a big day for the west shore… people in the west shore and Sooke region wanted and deserved better transportation,” said Parmar. He added that the previous government (then the BC Liberals, now BC United) abandoned “communities like ours” in terms of transportation infrastructure.
Construction to begin Spring 2025:
The construction tender will be awarded this fall and construction will begin in about eight months time (approximately March 2025) and take about two years to complete.
“So it’s coming fast, it’s going to be transformative, and move more people onto public transit, to reduce emissions into our environment, and to support the kind of growth and job creation that we’re all interested n here on the south Island,” said Minister Fleming.
Traffic congestion resulting from the project will be “short term pain for long term gain”, said Parmar.
Dean mentioned that the business community and school district have also been part of the contributions to advancing these bus lane improvements.
The project will include dedicated eastbound and westbound on-shoulder bus lanes, a new RapidBus stop at Helmcken, a new Galloping Goose pedestrian and cycling bridge at Craigflower Creek.
Bus use up 24% since Blink RapidBus launched:
West shore leadership was on site today for this long-time-coming expansion of road infrastructure that will support BC Transit bus service in areas beyond the downtown core areas.
“We have had an incredible first year of RapidBus service through the west shore. Bus ridership is up something like 24% in just one year. People are making the shift to public transit. That’s why this project comes at just the right time to add even more incentives, even more reasons, to use public transit,” said Fleming.
The Blink Rapid Bus #95 and feeder routes to that enhanced service will make use of the new lanes.
Better for environment, life stress and child care schedules:
“This region has grown and changed immensely in the last 25 years, particularly the connection between downtown Victoria and the fast-growing west shore. That has often created some serious congestion problems and made getting to and from work less reliable for employees and employers alike. And in the peak times it’s especially bad,” said Fleming today with traffic rushing behind him.
“Bad for the environment, bad for people’s frustration levels, bad for getting to child care, and for work life balance,” Fleming itemized. “It doesn’t work very well when you have a highway that is costly you valuable minutes and in some cases hours out of your day.
Who was there:
Also attending today were many municipal representatives and leadership from the West Shore Developers Association.
Among those gathered were Colin Plant, Chair, Capital Regional District (CRD); City of Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson and Councillors Colby Harder and Keith Yacucha, and Langford CAO Darren Kiedyk; City of Colwood Councillors David Grove. Dean Jantzen and Misty Olsen; Town of View Royal Councillors John Rogers and Alison MacKenzie; Sooke Councillor Dana LaJeunesse (who is also now the NDP candidate for Juan de Fuca-Malahat); and Sooke School District SD62 Trustee Christine Lervold.
BC Transit staff on hand included Aaron Lamb, Vice President, Asset Management and Chief Sustainability Officer and James Wadsworth, Senior Transit Planner.
Media representatives attended from the major TV stations, as well as The Times Colonist, Black Press, and Island Social Trends.
Bigger better footprint:
The dedicated bus lanes from Fisgard to Tillicum which were part of the McKenzie Interchange as well as some City of Victoria and District of Saanich public works projects saved the average transit commuter in the west shore 20 minutes already, said Minister Fleming.
Now bus lanes will go all the way out to Exit 8 (Colwood) to get into the west shore and be continuous from the downtown and have an additional 20 minute time savings for all those who use public transit, the MOTI Minister said.
Improved bike lanes and improved pedestrian access will be part of the west shore bus lanes development, said BC Transit’s Aaron Lamb, VP, Asset Management and Chief Sustainability Officer. He added that Douglas Street is the busiest corridor in the capital region with 140 buses per hour moving 36,000 passengers per day. He highlighted with pride a statistic that BC Transit represents 3% of the traffic while carrying about 40% of the people.
Lamb wants to see those numbers replicated in View Royal through the west shore and Saanich and on future Rapid Lines out to the peninsula and UVic, to bring the region closer to the transportation vision of outperforming use of the personal automobile with ease, comfort and reliability.
$95 million price tag:
$95 million in dedicated bus lanes and bus on shoulder express service all the way from downtown Victoria to the west shore of Greater Victoria. The province is giving most of the money. The federal contribution is $28 million (covering nearly 30% of the project cost).
Some of the pinch points in the downtown/west shore commuter route — including the Burnside Bridges (from three to two to three lanes) “is a terrible inconvenience” and the buses going in and out are a big part of the inconvenience, Fleming outlined; that $35 million investment is being worked on right now. That will make the west shore bus lanes “even more seamless”, said Minister Fleming.
“Transit service out to Sooke is incredible in terms of the growth in the region – it’s exactly what we want to have — highway improvements that make life easier for hard-working folks getting home to their families, whether they use the car or not and a fast efficient transit system that is worthy of the region and the fast growth that we’re seeing all across Greater Victoria.” said Fleming.
===== RELATED:
- Rob Fleming not running in 2024 election (July 4, 2024)
- Hwy 1 bridges over Burnside Rd getting bus lanes & environmental upgrades (March 28, 2024)
- BC Transit rolling out big digital changes on buses in 2024 (December 20, 2023)
- Blink Rapid Bus 95 now serving West Shore to downtown (April 11, 2023)
- Blink Rapid Bus launches April 10 in west shore (March 27, 2023)
- NEWS SECTIONS: LANGFORD | SOOKE | TRANSPORTATION | BC ELECTION 2024