Blasting is scheduled to begin today on the project to widen the Trans-Canada Highway to four lanes between West Shore Parkway and the Leigh Road interchange.
A test blast was set off Tuesday afternoon, said Janelle Staite, regional deputy director for the Ministry of Transportation.
Blasting can be expected from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays through to spring, resulting in intermittent delays of up to 20 minutes. “There’s a significant volume of rock that needs to be removed to be able to widen it,” Staite said.
Southbound traffic won’t be subject to stoppages from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., while northbound traffic won’t have to deal with stoppages from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Northbound traffic will continue to merge into one lane at the Leigh Road interchange.
Motorists can expect single-lane traffic in both directions. That’s because northbound traffic has to be shifted to one of the southbound lanes outside the morning rush hour to allow work to be done on the north shoulder, where blasting equipment will be set up.
No work will be done from Friday night through Sunday for now, but there might be future periods of weekend activity requiring lane closures and stoppages.
Langford Mayor Stew Young said the blasting is needed to get the project done. “It’ll be a little bit of pain with the traffic, of course,” he said. “Everybody needs to be aware of that.”
Young advocated for improvements on the stretch of road in February after two deaths from head-on collisions in the area in less than a month. Young said the Ministry of Transportation has moved quickly on the $9.7-million project over the two kilometres from the interchange to the parkway. “It’s important to move the traffic through there safely.”
Chris Foord, vice-chairman of the Capital Regional District Traffic Safety Commission, said once the project is done, “it’s going to improve things for everyone.”
The project was announced in April and calls for widening from three lanes to four, as well as the addition of 1.2 kilometres of concrete median to separate the north and south lanes.
It’s due for completion in the summer of 2021.
