'This is a great announcement': Rapid bus lanes coming towards the West Shore along Hwy. 1

Construction is underway in View Royal on a $95-million project that will see new rapid bus lanes to and from the West Shore.

“Bus ridership is up something like 24 per cent in just one year to the West Shore,” said Rob Fleming, B.C.'s minister of transportation and infrastructure. “People are making the shift to public transit, that’s why this project comes at just the right time.”

The new rapid bus lanes will head both northbound and southbound along Highway 1, spanning between the McKenzie Interchange through to Exit 10 heading into View Royal.

“This is a great announcement,” said Dean Jantzen, a Colwood councillor.

“This is a 100 per cent good news story,” said Scott Goodmanson, the mayor of Langford.

For stakeholders in the West Shore, it is news that has been a long time coming.

“As transit becomes more convenient, more accessible and more regular, the usage starts to increase,” said Jantzen.

“This is going to help commuters not only just in the West Shore but it’s going to help the whole region,” said Goodmanson.

Construction along the Trans Canada Highway will begin early next year with a completion date set for 2027.

The province will be kicking in $67 million towards the project. The federal government will add the remaining $28 million.

“I also would consider the bridge widening at Burnside as part of this project as well. It’s under construction now,” said Flemming.

That is a $35-million project.

“You have to remember that BC Transit is only three per cent of the traffic but yet we move 40 per cent of the people,” said Aaron Lamb, vice president of asset management and CSO with BC Transit.

Last year BC Transit began running its Blink Rapid Bus Line between the West Shore and downtown Victoria. That route increased the amount of daily trips between the two regions while also making fewer stops along the way.

That service is now carrying more than 10,000 people per day.

“For the future Colwood would like to see additional lanes and additional rapid buses travelling through our community and beyond and that is being discussed,” said Jantzen.

That is the hope in the West Shore that that will one day become a reality although Monday’s announcement brings the likelihood of that happening one step closer.