VICTORIA, B.C. – The government of British Columbia has reviewed a report on potential emergency detour routes for the Malahat (Highway 1) route north of Victoria, B.C.
The goal of the study was to assess the feasibility of a route for use in emergencies if the Malahat could not be used including forestry resource roads, trails and/or Greater Victoria Water Supply Area maintenance roads, with limited investment and footprint changes.
The report determined feasible alternatives do exist and detailed possible impacts to the environment and community watershed.
Seven possible emergency detour routes were examined, all of which were determined to have environmental, engineering, property and community disruption impacts to varying degrees.
The two routes taken forward for capital cost estimates are the Niagara Main at $30 million and the Far West Alignment at $180 million.
The other routes considered were Niagara Main in Watershed, Far West via Old Renfrew, Sooke Main / Kapoor Main, Sooke Main / Boneyard and Old Highway #117 / Kapoor Main.
A government of British Columbia news release said closures of the Malahat lasting long enough to trigger a detour happen infrequently at approximately 1.1 incidents per year on average. Since 2009, there have been seven closures of the Malahat longer than four hours in duration and in the event of highway closure the Pacific Marine Circle Route is available as a detour, with a travel time of approximately 3.5 hours.
“As thousands of people drive the Malahat every day, the Province is committed to improving safety on the main route in and out of Greater Victoria,” the release stated.
Work is also underway to widen Highway 1 between Leigh Road and the West Shore Parkway and add a centre median barrier and the provincial government is also looking at adding 1.5 kilometres of median barrier to the highway north of the West Shore Parkway to just north of Finlayson Arm Road.
The Malahat Segment Detour Route Planning report is available online.
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