Sunday September 15, 2024 | SOOKE, BC [Updated September 16, 2024]
Editorial analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
It seems to be part of the Sooke DNA to complain about provincial Highway 14 (aka ‘The Sooke Highway’). For sure, years ago it was a difficult drive and there were many bad accidents.
This very publication (then a quarterly print publication called MapleLine Magazine) devoted a full back cover in 2009 to the serious safety concerns expressed by a range of people and businesses in the community.
Over the years some minor improvements were made, and in the last few years a major modernization including another four-lane section was done.
And yet in this 2024 election cycle one still hears ‘what improvements?’. The backed-up traffic especially in the weekday afternoon return-home commute is frankly astonishing. What used to be a 20-minute drive between Langford (at the edge of town at West Shore Parkway) and Sooke is now at least 40 minutes.
A growing population in the region can be blamed for added traffic. But also this year the backups have had mostly to do with construction work on Charters Road. That’s an in-town road that locals have long used as a cut-off from Highway 14 to residential, recreational, schools and rural parts beyond.
But if unavailability of just one side-road creates such a traffic backup for several kilometres down the way on a provincial highway, something still hasn’t been figured out quite right at the traffic-flow design phase.
There’s a further problem that’s never been addressed and that’s having three Sooke School District (SD62) elementary schools fronting onto Highway 14 (John Muir, Sooke, and Saseenos). The safety risk is obvious. SD62 has been asked for comment.
Sooke is still a one-way-in / one-way-out town despite the millions of dollars that were spent on improvements. A chunk of that expenditure for the 4-way lane section went to adjacent property owners (big win for them).
A single route in-and-out can impact reliability for getting to fixed-time appointments such as medical, airport, ferry and business.
So when people complain that there have been ‘no’ improvements on Highway 14 they’re really saying that the core issue of breaking the one-road dependence has not been achieved.
The cost of blasting more rock to create an alternative route would be massive. So Sookies are still left with their favourite complaint through another election cycle.
Political context:
Provincial Highway 14 (Sooke Road) in Langford, through Metchosin, and to Sooke and beyond out to Port Renfrew, is in the provincial riding that has long been held by the NDP.
When John Horgan was the MLA there (2005-2023), at first there were few if any improvements (under a BC Liberal government in 2001-2017). In fact, even when a roundabout was installed in on Highway 14 in Sooke town center, Horgan was not even invited to the opening (it was attended by BC Liberal MLA Todd Stone along with the District of Sooke Mayor and some councillors).
Once Horgan became Premier he was able to bring in the four-lane highway improvement between Connie Road and Glinz Lake Road; that eliminated some dangerous curves where serious accidents had happened and allowed for an additional lane both ways for use by emergency vehicles when traffic is otherwise backed up.
Some of the directional markings in the new 4-lane section take a bit of getting used to as they are not well thought-out. Some of the higher-elevation stretches with rock cliffs on both sides may lead to safety issues in winter weather conditions.
Now with a provincial election happening this fall, local voters are still heard complaining about the traffic backups in particular.
Comments from Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidates:
Comments have been asked of all three parties who are running candidates in Juan de Fuca-Malahat in this provincial election cycle.
“Many of the problems with Sooke Road are the results of a provincial government not prioritizing the transportation needs of Sooke residents even as they expecte the town to increase density while managing traffic for the three schools east of town that are built along the provincial highway,” says David Evans, BC Green candidate for Juan de Fuca-Malahat.
Any comments received from the BC NDP or BC Conservative candidates will be added here.
The original (shorter) version of this editorial was published in the September 13, 2024 biweekly print/PDF edition of Island Social Trends, page 2.
===== RELATED:
- Greens support Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidate David Evans at fundraiser in Metchosin (September 11, 2024)
- Juan de Fuca-Malahat: Haldane throws support behind BC NDP (September 11, 2024)
- BC NDP chooses Dana Lajeunesse as Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidate (July 21, 2024)
- BC United picks Herb Haldane for Juan de Fuca-Malahat race (June 28, 2024)
- Throup in Sooke: small road, big politics (June 22, 2024)
- Sooke Traffic: portion of Charters Rd closed May to Oct 2024 (May 27, 2024)
- New four-lane section of Highway 14 now open (July 14, 2023)
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