Road work ahead all summer long across province
As you pack up your vehicle for summer vacation, be sure to leave some room for patience
If you’re planning to pack the car and hit the road this summer, other drivers aren’t the only hindrances you’re liable to encounter.
There are hundreds of road projects underway across the province, among them crack sealing, paving and bridge replacements.
In the city of Vancouver, major projects at the Burrard Bridge, on Southwest Marine Drive and near 41st Avenue and Oak Street will be joined by a major reorganization of the on-ramps at the north end of the Knight Street Bridge. The interchange has the highest rate of collisions in the city.
Further, because of a backlog of road work caused by the cold winter, more smaller projects than usual will be underway.
Here’s a look at projects elsewhere in the province; schedules may be updated, so the Transportation Ministry suggests travellers in B.C. check DriveBC.ca for up-todate road and weather conditions for the major routes before they hit the road.
On the busy Malahat on Vancouver Island, $34 million in safety improvements are underway on the five kilometres between Shawnigan Lake Road and Aspen Road. The three-lane stretch, two uphill, one down, is being widened to four lanes, getting a median barrier, safer intersections and better lighting. Motorists should expect delays of about 20 minutes and should allow for extra travel time during construction, particularly on Friday and Sunday afternoons and on long weekends.
Two major road and bridge construction projects are underway on the Coquihalla Highway. Crews will be resurfacing the Dry Gulch Bridge south of Merritt, and 30 km north of Hope work on the Box Canyon chain-up area continues. Both projects are expected to be completed in the fall.
Bridge deck rehabilitation and a seismic safety retrofit is taking place on the Alexandria Bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway, north of Spuzzum, until the end of October. Construction will take place 24 hours a day and traffic will be limited to single-lane alternating.
Bridge construction is also taking place on Highway 97 at Salmon Valley through Aug. 31. Expect 20 minute delays Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Paving is taking place nine km east of the Highway 24 junction with Highway 97 north to Bridge Lake Monday to Saturday through July 18. The road is reduced to single-lane alternating traffic with delays of up to 20 minutes.
The North Fork Bridge west of Revelstoke is in the process of being replaced with a new four-lane bridge over the Perry River. Construction will be complete in 2018, and although construction delays are expected to be minor, drivers are advised to allow extra travel time and obey flaggers and construction speed limits.
Parks Canada is doing work on Highway 1 in Glacier National Park and near the B.C.-Alberta border.