Traffic congestion in Victoria and the south Island

Mate, my original point hasn't changed one single iota ... the only relevant point being that Colwood Crawl traffic doesn't belong on the #1A or West Burnside for any reason whatsoever.

Sure it does. That’s what I use them both for.

Mate, my original point hasn't changed one single iota ... the only relevant point being that Colwood Crawl traffic doesn't belong on the #1A or West Burnside for any reason whatsoever.

 

Nice try though ...  I'm actually paying attention to what I'm saying, and mean every word I post (in short, I'm not OCD posting in order to read back my own words the next day).

 

Roads are meant to be driven on, that's their primary function. If a road goes to where you want to go, then drive on it. If two roads go where you want to go, choose one or the other. If one is busy, why not take the less busy one? Or find a third option? Or a fourth? 

 

Commuters coming into town from the Westshore have limited options but the options exist so why shouldn't they exercise them? 

 

Going to quote Spock again... "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". 

Whatever View Royal does to turn off motorists won’t stop the flow, but it will sure make it harder and harder for its own citizens to travel into and out of their community.

I know plenty of folks steaming mad over the Helmcken disaster ...who live in View Royal ...and are pulling their hair out over the decision to turn a busy intersection into a giant bottleneck.

Luckily the Island’s primary trauma centre isn’t located in View Royal. What a mess that would...

Wait a second now...

Pardon my ignorance here, but what is the Helmcken Disaster people periodically mention?  Did some part of that road used to be a four lane highway or something?

When Eagle Creek was built, the transportation department decided to remove a southbound through-lane towards the Helmcken overpass/TCH (and a de-facto turning lane towards the hospital). So now, whether you’re headed to the hospital, headed to View Royal south of the TCH or north/south on the TCH, you have no choice but to queue in a single lane of traffic travelling down Helmcken (which is the southern end of Wilkinson, a major Saanich east/west road). Thing get real hairy when pedestrians are crossing Watkiss Way and vehicles can’t turn off Helmcken. But luckily that’s not particular common.

All that’s accomplished is create a heap of idling traffic that keeps all motorists stuck, and is especially trying for View Royal residents.

When Eagle Creek was built, the transportation department decided to remove a southbound through-lane towards the Helmcken overpass/TCH (and a de-facto turning lane towards the hospital). So now, whether you’re headed to the hospital, headed to View Royal south of the TCH or north/south on the TCH, you have no choice but to queue in a single lane of traffic travelling down Helmcken (which is the southern end of Wilkinson, a major Saanich east/west road). Thing get real hairy when pedestrians are crossing Watkiss Way and vehicles can’t turn off Helmcken. But luckily that’s not particular common.

All that’s accomplished is create a heap of idling traffic that keeps all motorists stuck, and is especially trying for View Royal residents.

 

Ah, I can see this using the Google Street View snapshots.  And what was the reasoning, if given?

It was a complete head scratcher. But I suspect it’s part of View Royal’s traffic calming vision.

And it won’t work, if there were six or seven alternate routes in that area. But you have exactly ...one. So the exactly one route just gets insanely congested and everybody loses.

Ah, I can see this using the Google Street View snapshots. And what was the reasoning, if given?

It was to protect the hundreds if not thousands of vulnerable cyclists that turn right into the shopping centre and the hospital.

Ah, a great ruse.

Something to do while you're stuck in traffic: https://www.vicnews....-traffic-bingo/

During morning rush hour at Esquimalt/Tyee the cars making a left turn from Tyee onto Esquimalt have an advance left turn, plus not much cross traffic coming from the Songhees side. As a result, about 10-15 cars from Tyee get onto Esquimalt each light sequence. Those cars typically fill most of the available space on Esquimalt in front of the BMW dealership.

 

When the eastbound Esquimalt light turns green there is often very little room in the BMW block. For most light sequences, only 3-5 cars will get through the light.

 

No wonder Esquimalt backs up.

Welcome to traffic planning, Victoria style.

That intersection has had that issue during peak periods for time immemorial. When you’ve only got one lane to play with that’s the result.

It’s absolutely bonkers that we built the bridge with three lanes. It was a terrible mistake, short sighted and ultimately very costly to the thousands of drivers that waste fuel waiting to cross the harbour.

A group of environmental activists is planning to try to shut down some of Canada’s busiest bridges on Monday by having protesters lie down or sit in traffic lanes.

 

The Extinction Rebellion group’s targets include the Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria, Angus L. Macdonald Bridge over Halifax Harbour, the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver and the Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto.

 

In a Facebook post, the Victoria-based #BridgeOut Campaign said: “the bridge to the future is being demolished by big oil, and oily politicians."

 

The group said emergency vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians will be allowed through and expects to start the sit-in at about 7:30 p.m. “This escalation of tactics is the minimum of what’s necessary to give young people a fighting chance at a decent future,” said the Victoria group’s Facebook post. “We regret that ordinary people will be frustrated by the commute disruption, but the collapse of human society would be a much bigger inconvenience.”

 

https://www.timescol...nday-1.23966492

 

 

 

i'm not sure why the police should just bend over and allow this.  the bay st. bridge is still closed.  what are buses supposed to do?  it's 7:30pm so major congestion should not be a serious issue.  but people will still be late for work late for appointments late for meeting kids etc.  when the city shuts down streets there is notice consultation and mitigation of inconvenience.  but this group just decides it can shut it down with a facebook post.  we allow peaceful protests in this country almost anywhere in public spaces.  in the middle of a bridge is not the place we allow it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 October 2019 - 04:22 AM.

Gorge will be closed at Harriet and Albina as well, which is the circle route for those impacted by the Bay Street Bridge closure.

Somehow I don’t think VicPD will be all that accommodating here.

Somehow I don’t think VicPD will be all that accommodating here.

They'll show up 3 hours after the protesters already dispersed anyway due to being understaffed.

Somehow I don’t think VicPD will be all that accommodating here.

 

oh come on don't bet on that.  let's see how many of these three are allowed.

Good thing the JSB can be angled up a bit.

never thought about that.  these protestors also plan to stop potential marine traffic.

Why do environmental protests always have to cause congestion? Isn't idling worse on the environment than just driving? You'd think they want to get people moving as quickly as possible.

Somehow I don’t think VicPD will be all that accommodating here.

 

here's a reminder of what happened last time:

 

Victoria police said earlier they would not close the bridge to facilitate the protesters’ actions.

 

 

 

About 200 people left Centennial Square around 6 p.m., marching down Pandora toward the Johnson Street Bridge.

 

 

Six climate-change protesters were arrested Monday night for refusing to leave the Johnson Street Bridge roadway an hour after most had dispersed from a sit-in that disrupted motor traffic during the evening commute.

 

Victoria police officers moved in just before 8 p.m. to arrest the six people, who sat cross-legged and linked arms as an officer read them their rights.

https://www.timescol...sted-1.23518616

 

The march, which aimed to highlight government inaction on climate change, was meant to block the bridge for 12 minutes starting at 6:07 p.m. but carried on until 7 p.m. with songs, speeches and chants. Most people started to disperse but Howard Breen announced that he was going to continue sitting on the bridge even though he knew he was risking arrest. Five others joined him.

 

The arrests were peaceful and methodical and took place after an hour of verbal negotiation with police.

 

so to recap:

 

police said they would not be closing bridge.

at 6:07pm protestors close bridge for what was to be 12 minutes

at almost 8pm police re-open bridge after arrests.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 October 2019 - 06:23 AM.