September 22, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ West Shore Voice News
Two kilometres of Highway 1 between Leigh Road and West Shore Parkway will be widened to four lanes as part of a $9.7 million project to improve safety and efficiency at that gateway to the Malahat.
Widening and improving Highway 1 starts on Sunday September 22, 2019. Lane closures and construction activities will continue through 2020, says the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Efforts are being taken to minimize the impact to motorists during peak traffic periods.
- From Monday to Friday during construction, there will be no southbound lane closures or stoppages between 5:30 am and 9 am.
- From Monday to Friday, there will be no northbound closures or stoppages between 2:30 pm and 6 pm. Northbound traffic will continue to merge into one lane at the Leigh Road interchange as usual.
- Outside of peak traffic periods, both day and night between Sunday night and Friday morning, drivers can expect a southbound lane closure and a northbound crossover. This will allow crews to safely construct the new lane on the northbound highway shoulder.
- Periodic short stoppages will be required daily between 9 am and 2:30 pm and nightly 6 pm to 5:30 am. This will allow for tree clearing and soil removal to prepare the site for rock blasting, which is expected to begin in November.
Travellers should expect delays of up to 20 minutes and intermittent stoppages outside of peak periods while construction is ongoing. At this time, no construction is planned from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening. As construction progresses, there may be periods of weekend work activities that will necessitate lane closures and periodic stoppages.
Drivers are advised to use caution, follow the directions of traffic control personnel and obey the construction speed zone limit of 60 kilometres per hour when in place. For updates, motorists are advised to check: www.DriveBC.ca
When completed, Highway 1 between the Leigh Road interchange and the West Shore Parkway signal will be widened to four lanes with median barrier separation and improved roadside protections.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure thanks motorists for their patience during construction of these safety improvements.
There will be intersection improvements, installation of about 1.3 km of new median barrier, asphalt overlay of the highway, improvements to lane markings and delineation and related mobilization. Specs for the contractor include quality management, traffic management, environmental management, clearing, grubbing and stripping, earth excavations, peat excavation, drainage infrastructure, paving, and concrete barrier installation.
The project will receive funding from the federal government under the Canada-BC New Building Canada Fund.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) expects work to begin this fall, but now that the tender is closed (July 30, 2019) more timeline specifics will soon be known.
In the short term — following two fatal accidents in that stretch of highway in January (January 8 crash) and February 2019 (February 3 crash) — MOTI installed 250 reflective ‘picket’ delineators in early March along the 1.25 km stretch where four-laning will now be built.
And in May, delineators were also installed from about 300 m north of Finlayson Arm Road to about 300 metres south of the Goldstream River Bridge.
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This article was first published in the September 20-22 weekend digest edition of West Shore Voice News (on page 4).
An earlier article (before the start date was known) was first published on page 3 in the August 2, 2019 Weekend Edition of West Shore Voice News