Last week’s crash on the Malahat that closed the highway and created traffic chaos once again illustrated why we need the railway.
It’s not the first time this has happened, though this is one of the more severe incidents in recent memory.
The crash happened relatively early on Thursday, but due to the fact that it involved a truck carrying fuel, some of which began to spill, the highway had to be completely closed down for hours, decimating the evening commute to and from the Cowichan Valley and Greater Victoria.
The masses of traffic that count on that road — since there really is no other efficient alternative (more on that in a moment) — had to scurry to try to feed either through Sooke and the Pacific Marine Circle Route, or through the Brentwood-Mill Bay ferry.
So what’s the problem? Neither of these routes is intended for commuters. The Pacific Marine Circle Route is pretty for tourists and locals who want to take a long, long drive (more than three hours) through Vancouver Island’s wilderness, but not for someone hoping to get home from work at a reasonable hour. The Brentwood-Mill Bay ferry is small, old and slow, and therefore extremely limited in its usefulness as an alternative to the Malahat, especially when demand has people waiting multiple sailings to even board.
It’s incredibly frustrating that there is another route, but due to neglect and lack of foresight from our provincial and federal politicians it has been left to rot. The E&N rail corridor could have massively alleviated the problem last week, had it been running. A modern train system on the line could have run huge numbers of people from point a to point b with little effort.
In the same vein, there should be serious consideration of revamping the Brentwood-Mill Bay ferry so it is faster and larger and thus more able to serve commuters.
To think that this won’t happen again on the Malahat defies logic. No matter how many millions of dollars they throw at it, it cannot be allowed to continue to be the only artery going north and south from Victoria.
With an average of 24,000 vehicles travelling over the Malahat daily, and that number only set to rise as more residents are pushed up Island due to housing costs, it may even be time to consider a bridge.