Friday February 7, 2020 ~ LANGFORD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
As the population of the City of Langford continues to grow, so does the transportation infrastructure. In 2020 there will be continued work to build and maintain roadways, trails, streetlights.
At the January 26 City of Langford Transportation Committee meeting (rescheduled from that snowy evening of January 14), the city’s Director of Engineering, Michelle Mahovlich, made her annual presentation in support of the 2020 budget request for her department.
The committee is chaired by Councillor Roger Wade, and was attended Tuesday night by Councillors Lanny Seaton and Norma Stewart and other appointed community committee members.
According to BC Stats, the population of Langford grew 5.2% between 2018 and 2019, bringing the number of residents to 42,653. That’s up from 37,234 (2016 tally) in just three years. This drives the need for more infrastructure of various kinds, including roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and the maintenance required for those improvements.
Significant arteries across town were opened in the last few years, notably Bear Mountain Parkway, West Shore Parkway and Leigh Road. This helps with traffic flow in particular at peak times. The new network of connector roads facilitates the local economy by bridging the town in support of various activities: commuters from Sooke through Langford, access from Highway 1 (as well as Leigh Road and and Langford Parkway) to Westhills Stadium and the new Pacific FC indoor training facility, and for the growing Westhills population to access Highway 1 quickly via Leigh Road, and for Bear Mountain residents and visitors to reach in-town areas more quickly.
Road infrastructure that was added in 2019 will increase the 2020 maintenance budget by $160,000. This is what came on-stream in 2019: bike lanes (360 m), sidewalks (1.8 km), street signs (road names, cautionary signs, reflectors, etc.), streetlights (76), and new roads (600 m, or 1,200 in total with one lane in either direction). For each of the next five years that amount will probably increase, said Mahovlich to the committee.
As traffic volume changes around Langford, some roads see more traffic. One such location is the two-way Alouette Drive and Langford Lake Road intersection in Westhills. This year it will be changed to a four-way stop so that traffic on Langford Lake Road must stop before proceeding. This will help serve traffic entering and exiting Freshwater Crescent across from Alouette. Project price tag: $4,000.
Moved into 2020 from last year’s roadworks plan are access improvements to the mall in 900-block Langford Parkway (anchor tenants Cascadia Liquor, Quality Foods & Capital Iron). The entry will be moved further away from Jacklin Road from which a lot of traffic flows onto Langford Parkway especially at peak use times (such as morning and after-work commutes as well as when the 6,000-seat Westhills Stadium on Langford Parkway is hosting a major event).
This year about $50,000 will be spent (from within the repaving budget) to inspect all roads to determine the best maintenance approach moving forward; this was last done about eight years ago.
The small road improvement budget is increased from $20,000 up to $80,000. Sidewalk maintenance is set for $45,000 this year.
Storm drainage maintenance will be up to $30,000 (up from $18,000) to dispose of contaminants and protect creeks and streams.
The budget is pending approval by Council.
=== Notes:
The first version of this article was published on page 3 in the January 31, 2020 print-PDF weekend edition of West Shore Voice News.
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