Colquitz bridges enhancement is a quick fix for commuters

In July 2021, the CRD board directed staff to implement a list of its regional transportation priorities. One of these was reducing commute times in the region. The other was reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week, Rob Fleming, BC’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, announced upgrades to Colquitz River bridges that he says will improve commuting times from the Westshore into downtown Victoria.

Seismic retrofitting will widen the existing two-lane bridges over Burnside Road on Highway 1. A bus-on-shoulder lane will be added to each bridge, connecting and extending the bus lanes in both directions from Tillicum Road to the McKenzie Interchange. The shoulder lane means that transit users will also be able to count on increased bus transit reliability along the same route.

“To build a brighter future for Canadians, the federal government is investing in projects that improve connectivity and resiliency,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister of energy and natural resources.

The Colquitz bridges upgrade project is designed to reduce the McKenzie Interchange “pinch” and will create a continuous transit corridor—meaning buses will not be a part of the main traffic flow while they travel in designated shoulder lanes—between downtown Victoria and the interchange. The project provides the infrastructure needed for the Westshore RapidBus to better meet the 44% increase in ridership goals laid out by BC Transit in 2021. No routing changes are planned for bus service during the construction period.

Bus service in the CRD is now considered a rapid transit service. It operates during peak periods every 10 or 15 minutes. The buses display the dedicated bus lane number for most of the route and traveling in the lane can save the typical bus rider two to 20 minutes on a given excursion, the CRD says.

Efforts also are being made by Better Island Transit to promote frequent and affordable bus service between Victoria and Duncan which also relies on the McKenzie Interchange.

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McKenzie Interchange “pinch” in red Photo: BC Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure

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More space, more traffic

While it is meant to reduce commute time, the bridge enhancement effectively greenlights more automobile traffic from the Westshore into the capital.

Private cars are the most space-intensive mode of transport. In our culture, automobility is also synonymous with autonomy, self-expression, privacy, and comfort—if you can afford it. The Canadian Automobile Association’s estimate for the annual driving cos t of a 2018 Subaru Outback is $9.9K, based on ownership for five years.

Langford (the fastest-growing community on the Westshore) has had the largest increase in car ownership with a jump of more than 4K vehicles between 2018 and 2022. In his summary of the 2022 CRD Household Travel Survey Todd Litman, executive director of Victoria Transport Policy Institute, reported that driving declined in core communities (Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria, and View Royal), but increased in suburban areas (Colwood, Highlands, Langford, Metchosin Saanich, Sidney, and Sooke).

Auto driver shares are much higher in CRD suburbs (64% of trips in the Westshore) than in core communities like Victoria at 37%.

“Every time you drive, you’re expecting the government to pay to build some roads for you—which turns out to be quite costly—and you’re expecting businesses to spend a lot of money to build off-street parking spaces for you,” said Litman.

‍ Carpooling could reduce congestion

Researcher Stefan Gosslig said it is “paramount for city planners to provide alternatives to the car that are comparable in terms of cost and comfort" and argues that if city planners can’t, those alternatives won’t gain traction.

With many of the same conveniences and comforts, vanpooling could reduce the impacts of the same traffic “pinch” but without creating more space for cars on the same route. Many urban planners will tell you that if you give cars more space, more cars will come. With the anticipated population density increase in Millstream Village, Belmont Market, Royal Bay, Westhills, Bear Mountain, South Skirt Mountain, and Happy Valley, the bridge announcement could become another self-fulfilling traffic prophecy.

Vansharing or rideshare programs can be effective for large organizations with large numbers of employees working at the same location, however, the CRD has yet to publicly explore this option in earnest. Municipally supported rideshare programs have designated parking areas along major transit routes where non-driver participants can leave their cars for limited periods for no fee.

The public sector in Victoria alone employs 35,000 people across its departments that share workday hours and holiday schedules. Ride-sharing could reduce commuter traffic along the route from Colwood to the capital—the Colwood Crawl—but has drawbacks.

Problems arise when a commuter either needs to leave for work or leave work off-schedule or their carpool buddy suddenly isn’t available and they’re left stranded.

Alternatives to buses and solo commuter vehicles remain out of reach

The almost mythical light rail proposition that was once supported in earnest in 2011 by the Victoria Region Transit Commission doesn’t seem to be any closer to materializing. A Westshore ferry service feasibility study, called for by former Colwood mayor Rob Martin in 2018, also seems to have fallen by the wayside. At the time, Martin said he had 13 mayors onside. Both were costly proposals. The light rail estimate was $950M more than a decade ago and the ferry feasibility study alone was estimated to cost $1M.

“Many people think that rail is the magical solution that's gonna save us in the future but rail literally starts at a million dollars,” Litman told Capital Daily. For Litman, everything comes down to “frequency and affordability.”

“You may get frequency in the Westshore between Colwood and Victoria but not between Duncan or Nanaimo and Victoria,” he said.  A ferry in View Royal isn’t practical for people living in Langford who would have to travel backward by boat into the city.

Ultimately, the Colquitz bridges infrastructure announcement is a practical and relatively inexpensive solution to traffic congestion along the McKenzie corridor and, as Litman said, “maintains equilibrium” that makes it easier for commuters.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that the public sector in Victoria employs 300K people. It has now been updated to 35,000.