Surge of roadwork for capital region
‘You can’t paint lines when it’s raining’
Depending on who you talk to, there are more road-improvement projects going on around the region so far in 2018 than there has been for quite some time.
And since roadwork is a fairweather phenomenon, expect to see a lot of it through the rest of the spring and into the summer and fall.
Count Chris Foord among those who think the amount of roadwork is on the rise.
“I don’t know if it’s because municipalities in the last few years have cut down on their maintenance budgets and are having to do more, I don’t know if that’s a factor,” said Foord, vicechairman of the Capital Regional District Advisory Traffic Commission and a retired transportation consultant.
In any case, he said the seasonal aspect of road-related projects is simply the way it has to be, Foord said.
“People are pretty patient and I think it doesn’t matter what city you go in, you see the same kind of stuff,” he said. “You can’t pave when it’s snowing outside or you can’t paint lines when it’s raining.”
Still, there is always a lighthearted way to look at things.
“Part of me says we dig up the roads to amuse the tourists,” Foord said.
Ben Williams, who represents B.C. Transit drivers as president of Unifor Local 333, said this year seems to be “unprecedented” in the level of roadwork taking place.
“It seems to be everywhere, the construction,” he said. “It’s absolutely a challenge for the operators. t’s creating a lot of issues with regards to trying to be on time and so forth.”
For B.C. Transit officials, staying in communication with those behind road projects helps to control at least some of the variables in keeping buses moving as efficiently as possible.
“With construction, it’s always preferable, if it’s a private developer or a local government, that we work as closely as possible,” said B.C. Transit spokesman Jonathan Dyck. “Because then we can make adjustments and do what we need to do with our side if we know the time frame and that sort of thing, and also get information out to our customers.”
Dyck said there are a number of factors at play on local roads.
“When you look at the road network and what’s happening out there right now, there’s a lot of things going on,” he said. “It’s construction, it’s congestion, it’s changes to speed limits. For us, the big thing is giving our riders certainty about when their bus is going to arrive so that we can provide a reliable transit system.”
He said NextRide “automatic vehicle location” technology, already in place in Nanaimo, will make a difference in Greater Victoria when it arrives this winter. People will be able to use a mobile device to access real-time data telling them when a particular bus is likely to arrive.
For Brad Dellebuur, the City of Victoria’s assistant director of transportation, the perception of a busier-than-normal time for work affecting traffic has some merit.
“I would say the development activity is really driving a lot of work, particularly downtown,” he said. “You look at our major eastwest streets — there’s something on Pandora right now, there’s something on Johnson right now, there’s something on Yates right now.”
There are also many more being considered. “We’re talking about 2019 projects right now and how we’re going to schedule them,” Dellebuur said.