2245 replies to this topic

[Cassidy]

I agree that the Westshore Parkway light is contributing to the ridiculous traffic jam.

It's apparent that the Leigh Road on-ramp is also designed to get folks from Florence Lake onto the Island Highway heading North ... but is being majorly abused by traffic from Victoria.

Combined with the two lane into one lane merge ... it's a needless traffic disaster.

 

But as might be expected, there's absolutely nothing going on currently to fix it ... it's just accepted by the powers that be as another incredibly bad design causing endless grief for the folks who live in the region.

 

Further, what on earth is going to happen when the Parkway is completed, potentially increasing traffic 100 fold going North on the Highway by turning left onto the Highway from the Parkway traffic light?

 

It makes you wonder who on earth designed these "traffic flows" ... but more importantly, who is paying attention to them today in order to fix these obviously very broken roadway designs?

Edited by Cassidy, 03 July 2017 - 08:53 AM.

[DFossum]

They could punch through two lanes to I've cream mountain just north of West Shore pway intersection and it would only help a bit, even an overpass there would only do so much as it's the practical end of the highway until you get past finlayson arm.

The handful of people who jump the queue at the shell station arent hurting anything in the long term as traffic backs up to the Leigh rd northern off ramp on its own.

[Bingo]

But as might be expected, there's absolutely nothing going on currently to fix it ... it's just accepted by the powers that be as another incredibly bad design causing endless grief for the folks who live in the region.

 

An easy temporary fix would be to install BARRIERS until the Westshore Parkway is completed, and then see if the problem is rectified.

 

[HB]

I agree that the Westshore Parkway light is contributing to the ridiculous traffic jam.
It's apparent that the Leigh Road on-ramp is also designed to get folks from Florence Lake onto the Island Highway heading North ... but is being majorly abused by traffic from Victoria.
Combined with the two lane into one lane merge ... it's a needless traffic disaster.

But as might be expected, there's absolutely nothing going on currently to fix it ... it's just accepted by the powers that be as another incredibly bad design causing endless grief for the folks who live in the region.

Further, what on earth is going to happen when the Parkway is completed, potentially increasing traffic 100 fold going North on the Highway by turning left onto the Highway from the Parkway traffic light?

It makes you wonder who on earth designed these "traffic flows" ... but more importantly, who is paying attention to them today in order to fix these obviously very broken roadway designs?

well if all those victoria Saanich and other from in town stayed away from langford the traffic would be fine but they can't stay away too many shopping places and recreation places in langford and cheap places to live and way less crime ...no homeless camping everywhere and no beggars at every street corner and atm

Edited by HB, 03 July 2017 - 03:41 PM.

[Mike K.]

They could punch through two lanes to I've cream mountain just north of West Shore pway intersection and it would only help a bit, even an overpass there would only do so much as it's the practical end of the highway until you get past finlayson arm.

The handful of people who jump the queue at the shell station arent hurting anything in the long term as traffic backs up to the Leigh rd northern off ramp on its own.

Yup.

It's all basically related to the 60km/h section through the park.

The way congestion materializes on a freeway is several vehicles slow to a new speed which them causes an effect that will see subsequent waves of vehicles slow down even further, until you have a near crawl or a standstill. That's just how things work when you have very high volumes for an indequately sized highway (single lane past Leigh).

[sdwright.vic]

It would appear to me that everyone is going through Langford to get up island (not stopping) that is causing this backup though, correct.

[rjag]

Yup.

It's all basically related to the 60km/h section through the park.
 

 

Sorry Mike have to disagree, its the traffic light at the end of the single lane by Westshore Parkway. Once you are through the light then its smooth sailing even if it is artificially suppressed at 60km/h to keep the safety nannies happy. 

 

Its pure volume as well, for the only major road leaving a metro are of 350,000 its an embarrassment to have a single lane.....maybe Premier designate Horgan will continue what his predecessors started but didnt finish......but I highly doubt that.

[Cassidy]

The handful of people who jump the queue at the shell station arent hurting anything in the long term as traffic backs up to the Leigh rd northern off ramp on its own.

It's dozens of cars each minute, not a "handful" I'm afraid.

 

The snake of cars taking the "detour" is pretty much non-stop from the gas station, all the way along McCallum Road to Leigh Road, then all the way down the North on-ramp back onto the highway, the highway they just left moments ago.

 

That they're not hurting anything depends on your opinion on the fact that they're exacerbating, if not causing the traffic jam which is stopping traffic for half an hour to 40 minutes on the ISLAND HIGHWAY, the major thoroughfare out of Victoria!

[Cassidy]

An easy temporary fix would be to install BARRIERS until the Westshore Parkway is completed, and then see if the problem is rectified.

 

These folks are exiting the Highway onto McCallum Road though, not the off-ramp.

 

These miscreants are quite crafty, and most of them obviously know the "detour" route well in advance of getting there, as it's not terribly obvious to somebody who hasn't seen where McCallum Road actually goes.

[Cassidy]

well if all those victoria Saanich and other from in town stayed away from langford the traffic would be fine but they can't stay away too many shopping places and recreation places in langford and cheap places to live and way less crime ...no homeless camping everywhere and no beggars at every street corner and atm

 

This is strictly related to traffic heading up island, with the exception of perhaps 1% to 2% of the cars turning left off the highway into Goldstream Village.

 

We're talking up to 3000 cars per hour at peak volume on the Island Highway - far in excess of anything related to local access.

[PraiseKek]

These folks are exiting the Highway onto McCallum Road though, not the off-ramp.

 

These miscreants are quite crafty, and most of them obviously know the "detour" route well in advance of getting there, as it's not terribly obvious to somebody who hasn't seen where McCallum Road actually goes.

The backup only happens during summer construction on the Malahat which is the cause of the problem. The solution is to stop the construction that never solves anything. I'd be ok with turning it into a separated 4 lane highway but everything else is just a joke that only makes the highway awful to use in the summer.

[UrbanRail]

well if all those victoria Saanich and other from in town stayed away from langford the traffic would be fine but they can't stay away too many shopping places and recreation places in langford and cheap places to live and way less crime ...no homeless camping everywhere and no beggars at every street corner and atm

That's because they and every district send their homeless problem to downtown Victoria. And actually the traffic isnt being caused by people from Saanich and Victoria, it's being caused by people living in the westshore and commuting back and forth.

[LJ]

These folks are exiting the Highway onto McCallum Road though, not the off-ramp.

 

These miscreants are quite crafty, and most of them obviously know the "detour" route well in advance of getting there, as it's not terribly obvious to somebody who hasn't seen where McCallum Road actually goes.

When the Leigh road is completed to Bear Mountain area this fall people would want to take the off ramp to go up Bear Mountain Parkway. If there are people blocking the intersection because there is no place for them to go when the light turns green for them that will be very annoying for people trying to use the off ramp for it's intended purpose. All it would take is a "No Through Traffic" sign, left or right turns only to solve that problem.

On Friday afternoon I went into the Westshore to pick up a couple of things and traffic was just nuts all over. So I thought I would be smart on my return and take Leigh road back rather than Millstream. I went up Jacklin, turned left onto Goldstream and went down to Leigh road, well kinda. It took 15 minutes to get off Goldstream onto Leigh road. Fortunately when I got on Leigh road it was just a couple of minutes until most people got into the left turn lane and I could continue on.

[malahatdrive]

A few things I thought I would mention:

The bc government announced 4 laning between Leigh Road to Goldstream Park:
https://news.gov.bc.....cg_n=HootSuite

Also the current malahat construction is to 4 lane and divide the highway between just south of Aspen Road to the Shawigan Lake exit.

[On the Level]

The backup only happens during summer construction on the Malahat which is the cause of the problem. The solution is to stop the construction that never solves anything. I'd be ok with turning it into a separated 4 lane highway but everything else is just a joke that only makes the highway awful to use in the summer.

The backup used to happen every Friday, but now it's happening on a regular basis.  It typically doesn't backup all the way to construction on the Malihat, but might temporarily for the current work being done.

 

The best way to promote massive construction is to do nothing, ignore it, and declare that it doesn't solve anything.  Then you end up with an electoral area infuriated enough to make it a panic for elected officials.   

[Bingo]

It would appear to me that everyone is going through Langford to get up island (not stopping) that is causing this backup though, correct.

 

Up island has been around for eons but Langford not long at all in the scheme of things, so Langford needs to stop encroaching on the road to up island and get busy getting the E&N Railway running if they want to help the situation.

[Bingo]

Well none of this would be an issue if they hadn't decided to build the interchange, as it would keep all the congestion back at McKenzie to give the congestion at Leigh time to move along.

[On the Level]

Up island has been around for eons but Langford not long at all in the scheme of things, so Langford needs to stop encroaching on the road to up island and get busy getting the E&N Railway running if they want to help the situation.

I agree on the E&N but with 30 years of blocking development elsewhere, you can't blame families for moving somewhere they can afford.  How is this any different than the encroachment from Saanich and View Royal?

 

Well none of this would be an issue if they hadn't decided to build the interchange, as it would keep all the congestion back at McKenzie to give the congestion at Leigh time to move along.

It was backed up long long before the interchange work started.....  You have a point though.  Should be interesting to see what happens.

[sdwright.vic]

Up island has been around for eons but Langford not long at all in the scheme of things, so Langford needs to stop encroaching on the road to up island and get busy getting the E&N Railway running if they want to help the situation.

But don they really want to help?

[sdwright.vic]

Up island has been around for eons but Langford not long at all in the scheme of things, so Langford needs to stop encroaching on the road to up island and get busy getting the E&N Railway running if they want to help the situation.

But don they really want to help?