Langford will have a “soft opening” of its new Leigh Road interchange on a Saturday night, when traffic is lighter, in a bid to minimize disruptions.
“It will happen at 6 p.m. on June 15,” said Michelle Mahovlich, Langford’s director of engineering.
Before that, there will be a couple of traffic changes, she said.
“Because we can’t physically do everything at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 15, we’re doing some of these closures in advance to allow us to put barricades and things like that in place,” she said.
By week’s end, the intersection at Goldstream Avenue and Leigh Road will be converted to a four-way stop from the existing two-way stop.
For motorists travelling west on Goldstream — from downtown Langford, toward Leigh Road — there will be a dedicated right turn lane. Eventually, when traffic dictates the need, the intersection will get a signal light, Mahovlich said.
By June 3, the right turn-off from the Trans-Canada Highway onto Spencer Road, for traffic headed into Victoria, will be blocked off. When the interchange opens, that entire intersection will be closed. Right turns from Spencer onto the highway (toward Victoria) will be allowed.
At 6 p.m. on June 15, the traffic signal at the Trans-Canada Highway and Spencer/McCallum Roads will be deactivated. At the same time, three ramps at the new interchange will be opened to traffic.
Those include the northbound off-ramp (driving from downtown Victoria on the highway to the Leigh Road bridge), the northbound on-ramp (driving from the Leigh Road bridge, turning north onto the highway toward Goldstream Park) and the southbound on-ramp (driving from Leigh Road and turning south onto the highway toward downtown Victoria).
With the opening of the interchange, traffic will no longer be able to cross the highway at McCallum or Spencer roads.
On the north side of the highway, local traffic will take the McCallum frontage road that travels from Florence Lake Road, parallel to the highway, past Savory Road to connect with the completed section of the Bear Mountain Parkway that connects to the new interchange bridge.
Once the Leigh Road interchange is opened, pedestrians will no longer be able to cross the highway at Spencer Road.
They will have to cross on either the Leigh Road interchange bridge or the Millstream Road interchange bridge.
Meanwhile, B.C. Transit will implement a number of service adjustments effective June 15 in light of the traffic changes.
Buses on the No. 56 Spencer Road, No. 57 Millstream, No. 57X Langford Express and No. 58 Langford Meadows routes will travel via the Leigh Road interchange instead of the Spencer Road/Trans-Canada Highway intersection.
The No. 56 Spencer Road route will be renamed No. 56 Florence Lake in September to more closely reflect its service area.
