Langford mayor incensed by B.C. inaction after highway fatalities

Langford mayor says he has had no response after two fatalities

Langford Mayor Stew Young says his calls on the province for emergency barriers on a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway where there have been two fatal head-on crashes in three weeks have not evoked so much as a phone call.

“I’ve got nothing. Not a call. Not a response; nothing. And I’ve got two deaths in my community and this is the premier’s riding,” Young said Wednesday. “And I have to talk to the victim’s parents … people in the accident.”

The province said in an email Tuesday that it anticipates moving ahead with work to widen the Trans-Canada Highway between Leigh Road and West Shore Parkway and add concrete barriers.

Young suggested those words are hollow as Transportation Minister Claire Trevena has not attached timelines or funding to the upgrades.

“I thought the [provincial] government would move on this,” Young said.

“I’m asking them to consider calling this an emergency measure and see if we can get some measures in place right away.”

A 24-year-old Nanaimo man was killed in a head-on crash on Sunday, and a driver died in a head-on crash in the same area on Jan. 8. Passengers were injured in both crashes.

On Monday, Young asked the province to implement emergency measures and start construction of safety improvements that were first announced in 2016 and for which design and planning work has been completed.

Spokeswoman Danielle Pope said in an email that the Transportation Ministry is working with police to understand the factors that led to the crashes.

“Once we have this information, ministry staff will look at the potential for short-term engineering options to improve safety.”

Young said the RCMP wrote to the province on Monday, as did Langford’s fire chief, asking for the safety improvements to prevent further deaths, saying “time is of the essence.”

“We don’t need any more studies or reports,” Young said. “The only thing that will save lives there are the concrete barriers.

“If they are going to wait for the McKenzie interchange or the Malahat to be finished, that’s not acceptable in an emergency situation.”

The Transportation Ministry said short-term improvements would need to complement the planned four-laning of a twokilometre section of highway between Leigh Road and West Shore Parkway and adding median barriers.

Young said he wants temporary barriers and traffic-calming measures that would remain until permanent barriers are installed and road widening is complete.

Noting that work on the McKenzie interchange project and the Malahat safety improvement project are nearing completion, the ministry said in an email that “we anticipate moving forward with other safety priorities in the region, including the Leigh Road four-laning and median barrier project.”