A delegation from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrafrustructre will be in council chambers to share their short, medium and longer-term plans for Highway 14. This was at the invitation of council and the District. Safe bet: A standing-room-only attendance in the chambers, with overflow space available in the adjoining Firefighters' lounge.
As prelude and warm-up, i'm pulling elements from my earlier Highway 14 blog posts and adding additional content.
* Highway 14 Revisited: Four-Lane Opening Edition (July 22, 2022)
* Highway 14 Revisited: Spring 2019 Edition (March 29, 2019)
* Fresh Paint, Familiar Refrain for Sooke Road (Nov. 17, 2018)
A Very Brief Taste of Public Sentiment in 2023/24
See attached file of social media commentary (names removed)
District of Sooke: Seeking Solutions
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Highway 14 Coordinator Improvements website page (last updated: Jan. 11, 2024)
"The Highway 14 - Corridor Improvements project is now complete. The project aimed to shorten commute times, improve safety and add better connections to public transit and active transportation routes."
* MOTI Service Plan 2023-2026
Details on 25 capital projects across the province identified since 2017 and ranging in cost from $50 million to over $4 billion. Includes the Hwy 14 corridor project ($87m) and the Keating Cross Road overpass ($77m) on the south island and such mega Lower Mainland projects as the Pattullo Bridge replacement in New Westminster ($1.4m), the Fraser River Tunnel project ($4.4 billion), Surrey Skytrain extension ($4b) and the Broadway Ave. subway system in the City of Vancouver ($2.8b). Total provincial investment in the 25 projects will be $11b over this three-year period; contributions from federal government and other partners covers the full costs of $13.2b.
* MOTI, regional districts, municipalities and logging companies are variously responsible for nearly 50,000 km
of paved + 22,000 km unpaved roads in BC
Regional Transportation Context
* South Island Transportation Strategy (MOTI, Sept. 2020)
* Capital Regional District's Regional Transportation Plan (1990s, revised 2014)
* CRD Origin Destination Travel Household Survey (2011)
* CRD Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan (2015)
* CRD Household Travel Survey (2017)
* Drive BC Road Conditions + BC Map + #14 updates here
Highway 14
* Wikipedia entry
* Gord Phillips' "Sooke Highway" (our town's unofficial civic anthem)
* Elida Peers history of Sooke Road - "Never Easy to Navigate" (Sooke News Mirror, July 29, 2018)
* Annual average daily traffic volume = 16,000 cars per day (up 25 percent since 2007)
* Hwy #14 is closed an average of six times a year (usually for two hours, but as long as seven hours or more, as per the early October closure this year)
* Most dangerous spots: Gillespie Rd., Cooper's Cove, Parkland, Otter Point/Murray, Sombrio
Source: 2018 MOTI report. Clip: "Annual average daily traffic (AADT) volumes along the corridor have increased by approximately 25% over the past 10 years. The corridor is experiencing increasing platoons of commuter traffic (where congestion causes vehicles to travel closely together), and areas west of Sooke lack shoulders, pullouts and pavement conditions are of concern for this important tourism and commercial route."
* Vintage 16mm clip from MOTI's "Road Trip Time Machine" archive. Filming took place on May 11, 1966, a Wednesday. The town centre arrives at 2:48, ten seconds after the bridge crossing. Bonus: Slow moo-ving traffic on the approach to Jordan River (where the road ended back then) at the 6:00 mark.
Improvements Over the Years
* Regional road updates neatly captured in this MOTI Flickr photo file.
4 Lane Expansion
* MOTI visualization of the road network near 17 Mile House from the presentation materials released at the 2019 Open House at EMCS. Flip towards the back of this PDF to see visualizations of other impacted intersections.
* Premier's press conference (April 29, 2019) formally announcing the four-laning of Hwy #14 from Connie to Glinz Lake Road. "It will make life better and safer for the people of Sooke," said Premier Horgan. The project will cost $65 million in federal and provincial funding ~ 80 percent of the cost of the McKenzie overpass and proof once more that a bona fide alternate route to Sooke is a short-and-mid-term fantasy given the $500 million (minimum) costs that would be involved.
* March, 2019: Sooke River Rd intersection project
* Aug., 2018: Hwy 14 Engagement Summary Final Report.
* June 2018: This preliminary report from MOTI kickstarted the Sooke community engagement process
* Jan., 2018: "Mayors Call for Action" (Maja Tait, Stew Young)
* Jan., 2018, Premier Horgan announces $10m in funding for road improvements.
* 2012: Highway 14 improvements (MOTI newsletter re: fixing the flood zone west of Kangaroo Rd.)
* Aug. 2011: "Sooke-tacular Improvements Come to Highway 14" (MOTI newsletter; link now broken)
* Sooke's Transportation Master Plan (2020) states that "Highway 14 experiences traffic volumes up to 20,000 vehicles per day. Otter Point Road is the busiest Collector Road with volumes up to 9,500 per day." The projected Average Daily Traffic entering Sooke in 2038 will be 25,000 vehicles. See the map on page 41.
The TMP is accommodating growth with an expanded "complete streets" network highlighted by the long-planned Throup/Grant Road bypass that will channel local traffic off Sooke Rd. It also calls for intersection improvements at #14 and Church (underway this summer), Otter Point and Phillips Roads. (full details, pp. 38-51)
Sooke Local Road Issues
* District of Sooke Business Case Phase Two (Phillips to Charters) of Connector Road Project
* Sooke Borrowing Referendum 2005 backgrounder
* Wadams Way opening (Oct. 2014)
* "Roundabout part of $9 million in Sooke roadwork" (July 2015)
* "Sooke's new Brownsey Blvd. Now Open" (June 2016)
Colwood (and Malahat) Crawl
* Westshore Parkway Langford
* Jack Knox Times Colonist column: "Is the Colwood Crawl Driving You Crazy?" (Nov. 2018)
* "New 'Urgency' to find Malahat Highway Alternative" (CBC interview with Minister of Transportation Trevena)
Alternatives: Light Rail & Rapid Buses
* Victoria Regional Rapid Bus Project (BC Transit, spring 2011)
* Premier Horgan: "Rapid-bus system from Westhills to downtown Victoria would be a better bet." (May, 2018)
* "Region's Politicians Laud Movement" re: Langford-Victoria LRT (May 17, 2018)
* Better Transit Alliance of Greater Victoria
* Victoria Region Bus Lanes Project (BC Transit, updated 2018)
* Island Corridor Foundation (reviving the E&N Rail line from Victoria to Courtenay)
* E&N Rail Reports & Studies (Province of BC)
* "Rail for Vancouver Island" Facebook group
* MOTI Trans-Canada/Malahat Corridor Study (2007)
* Victoria Transport Policy Institute
* Regional Transit Funding Options (CRD, 2012)
* Transportation Service Feasibility Study (CRD, 2014)
Alternate Routes & Four-Lanes From Here to Langford
* Second last page of the 2019 Corridor Improvements Study (no longer available online; DM me for a copy) is titled "Why not build a new highway?" (i.e., a four lane from Langford to Sooke).
"The mountainous terrain is a major obstacle in designing and constructing an entirely new highway between Langford and Sooke. Challenges include:
~ Need to route the highway around the higher terrain/mountain peaks
~ Much steeper grades affecting truck traffic
~ Increased snowfall, as some of the route would be above a 200m elevation
~ Need for multiple bridges to span major creeks
~ Environmental impacts
~ Need to pass through one or more regional parks
~ Construction would require major rock cuts and retaining walls
~ High cost ($20-50M per kilometre)
The distance from the end of the Sookahalla to Cooper's Cove is approx. 12km (if indeed I have worked things out correctly just now with the Google map calculator). The anticipated project cost of a four-lane Hwy #14 along that stretch, therefore, is $240-$600m in deflated 2018 dollars.
* Malahat Segment Detour Route Planning (Nov. 2019) report has been released, and it delivers a resounding 'no' to any possible escape routes on forestry roads through the Sooke Hills. See pages six and seven of the report for all the reasons why the seven best-possible options have been rejected. And so the one alternative route out of Sooke is on the Pacific Marine Circle Route to Port Renfrew and onwards to Lake Cowichan.
* Save The Sooke Hills
BC Transit
A shortage of Mechanics and parts supply issue with the double deckers. Thats what I was told by BC Transit yesterday when I inquired about the removal of the 61 double deckers.
The Way It Was
Miscellaneous
* The province historically used lead based paint, but due to environmental issues, we have switched to a material that’s water based. We are working on finding the perfect balance between being environmentally friendly, and highly reflective and durable. Here’s a link to a blog outlining our quest for the perfect paint: https://www.tranbc.ca/2017/09/27/new-tool-shines-a-light-on-line-paint-brightness/
* Canada's National Highway system
* Canadian Encyclopedia: Roads & Highways in Canada
* Province of BC's Driving & Transportation home page
* BC's 12 Deadliest Highways (#14 does not feature on this list based on ICBC stats from 2004-13)
Advocacy
* Advocacy by the #DividedBy14 initiative of the Sooke Economic Development Group
* Advocacy by the Otter Point and Shirley Residents & Ratepayers Association
* Advocacy by the Sooke Chamber of Commerce
* Westshore Voice News article on Transition Sooke's "Rethinking Traffic As Usual" workshop (Nov. 2017)
* CRD Transportation Committee minutes (2017/18)
Contacts
Honourable Rob Fleming
Minister of Transportation & Infrastructure
PO Box 9055 Prov Stn Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Send an e-mail to the Minister
Phone: 250 387-1978
Fax: 250 356-2290
Deputy Minister's Office
Kathryn Krishna
Deputy Minister of Transportation & Infrastructure
PO Box 9850 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9T5
Send an e-mail to the Deputy Minister
Phone: 250 387-3198
Fax: 250 387-6431
Government Communications & Public Engagement
PO Box 9850 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9T5
Telephone: 250 356-8241
* MOTI Transition 2022 File (Personnel, Capital Project priorities, etc., Dec. 2022)