After nearly a year of weekday single-alternating traffic at Four Mile hill, a busy commuter road should be open in both directions after Friday.
The $7.4-million Island Highway Improvement project began in July 2010 with promises that commuters wouldnB次元官网网址檛 wait longer than 10 minutes in traffic queues, and with a completion date set for March.
The project ended up pushing about 500 more vehicles onto the Trans-Canada Highway during morning rush hour, fraying commuter nerves and putting pressure on View Royal to get the job done.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 taken longer than anyone ever expected,B次元官网网址� remarked Mayor Graham Hill.
The final surface paving was completed last week, and this week was spent completing line marking and installing sensors for a new traffic signal at the corner of Island Highway and View Royal Avenue.
The project was designed to improve traffic flow by adding left-turn lanes and dedicated bus pullouts, but Hill says drivers shouldnB次元官网网址檛 expect a second highway when they choose the View Royal route.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not the 401,B次元官网网址� quipped Hill, referring to the superhighway in Ontario. B次元官网网址淲e want to promote multi-mode transportation, a shift away from personal vehicles for daily travel.B次元官网网址�
Landscaped medians make the vehicle lanes seem narrow and encourage drivers to keep to the 50 kilometre per hour speed limit. Conversely, the bike lanes are wider than usual B次元官网网址� giving cyclists a two metre berth on the uphill and 1.8 m going downhill towards Victoria.
The bike lanes will eventually feed into the E&N rail trail to give cyclists a quick route to shopping at Admirals Walk and an off-road path all the way to Victoria.
The remainder of the project B次元官网网址� completing an artistic rock wall along the road and landscaping in Portage park B次元官网网址� shouldnB次元官网网址檛 interrupt traffic and will be done in about a month.
View Royal director of engineering Emmet McCusker said heB次元官网网址檚 looking forward to clocking the time it will take him to bike downtown when the trail is ready, predicting it will be faster than driving.
Another thing heB次元官网网址檚 looking forward to: A heavy rain storm. ThatB次元官网网址檚 when heB次元官网网址檒l get to see the new rain gardens in full effect.
When water collects in Island Highway road-side drains, it will be directed into the centre median and will flow above ground through rock trenches and peculate through the soil to naturally filter out heavy metals before flowing into Portage Inlet and Thetis Cove.
B次元官网网址淲hen thereB次元官网网址檚 enough rain, there will be creeks running down the middle of the roads. In some spots little waterfalls will happen,B次元官网网址� McCusker said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 going to be really neat to see.B次元官网网址�
Hill said heB次元官网网址檚 proud of the end result of the project that sets a new benchmark for future road design in View Royal.
B次元官网网址淲e stayed to the purpose, and unfortunately it took longer then expected,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲hat we have now is a road with a vision of the future and type of travel we want to see in our community.B次元官网网址�
news@goldstreamgazette.com
