The City of Langford is moving mountains – literally in some places – to get traffic flowing throughout the West Shore.
A number of major road projects will be completed this year, including Bear Mountain Parkway, which should help to alleviate some of the congestion around Millstream Road.
It’s unfortunate the improvements to the Millstream overpass couldn’t be completed during the same time but we can’t blame the City for that. There is simply too much demand for construction workers right now and that would translate to a hefty bill for taxpayers – one Langford simply wasn’t willing to accept.
But with West Shore Parkway scheduled to open in the coming weeks, as long as there are no major delays, we’re optimistic traffic within Langford may just start flowing a little better. At least until it hits the Trans-Canada Highway.
However, we can’t help but notice the rumoured funding for improvements to Sooke Road hasn’t materialized. There could be a number of reasons for that, including the uncertainty that’s surrounded the provincial government during this election campaign and post-election saga. Regardless, the roadway is under provincial jurisdiction and it’s been a hot topic for local mayors and members of the public trying to draw some attention to its shortcomings.
Hopefully, now that a premier who’s familiar with the roadway is in power we may see some results. If not, he’ll get stuck in the same traffic as the rest of us when trying to commute into the legislature so maybe that’ll be another driving force.
Last week’s brush fire was also an astounding reminder of how one incident can isolate communities, strand drivers and highlights a lack of what some would call essential services such as water for the area.
With house prices continuing to rise, driving more residents to the West Shore and Sooke, traffic on Sooke Road is only going to get worse unless some drastic improvements are made. It’s time for the province to put their money where their mouth is and make sure the necessary infrastructure is in place so we don’t end up with another situation similar to the Malahat.
Let’s do it now and do it right – finally.