The future of the Malahat, one of Vancouver Island’s most dangerous stretches of highway, could be decided by politicians battling for votes in the provincial election campaign.
The NDP and Liberals are squaring off over what to do with the twisty mountainous road that links Greater Victoria to the rest of Vancouver Island. There have been at least 14 fatal crashes on the Malahat since 2000.
The Liberals’ re-election platform includes safety improvements to the highway as part of its transportation strategy for Vancouver Island.
But that doesn’t mean the party is offering any new money.
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“We’ll only be able to provide some of those major dollars when the economy turns around,” said cabinet minster Ida Chong, who is running for re-election in Oak Bay-Gordon Head.
The Liberal government spent $8 million in 2012 for intersection upgrades and 5.4 kilometres of centre-line dividers for the highway — changes police and fire officials say will help prevent high-speed head-on crashes, often the cause of fatalities on the road.
“So far, the investments we have made, while important and while significant, I have heard some say it’s not enough, we still need more,” Chong said. “I’d like to say, what more are you talking about?”
Transportation Minister Mary Polak, who is running for re-election in Langley, said she’s put together a Malahat working group with local leaders and government engineers to look at what else can be done.
“The engineering and design will then give us some idea of what the costs are,” she said. “Then we can start proceeding with what happens next.”
The recent safety upgrades put concrete centre-line dividers along 40 per cent of the Malahat.
But much of the rest of the road is wedged between rock faces, cliffs and private land, and the Ministry of Transportation has cited “very significant costs” to widen the road for more barriers or additional safety measures.
The Integrated Road Safety Unit, made up of local police departments, has said it could reduce the number of crashes with a dedicated Malahat enforcement unit.
But the RCMP has said it’s not a priority to ask for the resources necessary to maintain such a unit, and the provincial government hasn’t offered any money.
Juan de Fuca NDP incumbent John Horgan said he frequently hears about serious crashes that could have been avoided with more police enforcement. The Liberal upgrades have been too little, too late, he said.
The Malahat will be a specific part of the NDP’s transportation platform, but there’s not billions of dollars lying around to rebuild the entire highway, Horgan said.
“Median barriers are inexpensive,” he said.
“There are opportunities to improve on what the Liberals have done to this day and time. That’s certainly going to be the foundation of what we do to the Malahat.”
