Things will start going ‘round on April 9.
On budget and on time, the first major components of the McTavish Road interchange are tentatively slated to open that evening.
“It’ll make a difference to the flow,” said Murray Coell, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands.
The project is intended to improve the safety and flow of traffic at McTavish Road and Highway 17 near Victoria International Airport. Coell figures the lack of lights will make moving on the Peninsula easier, and he’ll give it a whirl on his way to work. But more than that, Coell sees the interchange as a major part of the upgrades to the entire Peninsula, providing safer travel routes no matter the mode of transportation.
That includes the wrapping up of projects like Lochside Drive in Sidney, and the East Saanich Road corridor from North Saanich right through to Island View creating “literally miles of cycling paths.”
“There’s a whole bunch of projects that are finishing up this spring,” Coell said.
According to the Ministry of Transportation construction is in stride with the budget, and created about 150 jobs.
“It was part of the federal and provincial stimulus package, so all of those projects kept literally hundreds of people in work during the worst phase of the recession,” Coell said. “The benefit to our community is we have increased cycling and walking trails on the Peninsula for safety as well as enjoyment.”
The federal and provincial governments each funded $10.5 million through the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund while the Victoria Airport Authority invested $3 million in the new twin-roundabout interchange.
There are already a couple of roundabouts in the community, the latest being near the Victoria International Airport. The pair at McTavish will initiate local drivers in the use of two-lane roundabouts.
“The key when you’re coming to a roundabout if it’s a multi-lane roundabout is really to pick your lane,” said Ed Miska, chief traffic electrical highway safety and geometric standards engineer with the Ministry of Transportation. “In a multi lane roundabout we will have signs in advance of the roundabout showing if you have to be in the left or the right lane to get to your destination.”
With the lighted intersection gone, the double-roundabout interchange is set to make things safer. Even just the design of the roundabouts naturally slows people down.
“If there were to be, unfortunately, a collision, it would be a low speed collision,” Miska noted. “If someone runs a red light, and someone is going across the street you end up with a t-bone (crash) and those are extremely dangerous.”
While slowing up is mandatory for using roundabouts, stopping will slow the flow.
“People shouldn’t be stopping in the roundabout. Once you’re in the centre, you have the right of way and the traffic on the side has to yield to you,” Miska explained. “If everyone follows the signs and they take it slow … they’ll find the navigation actually quite straight forward.”
The project includes access for rapid bus service, as well as the park-and-ride facility of 200 parking spaces designed to support future transit expansion and increase transit ridership. Construction started in November 2009 and the final transit component is expected to be finished in June.