Federal and provincial politicians announced $16 million in funding on Wednesday to complete a bus-only lane between McKenzie Avenue and downtown Victoria.
Carla Qualtrough, federal minister of public services, and Claire Trevena, provincial minister of transportation, held a joint news conference at the provincial legislature to announce the money for a southbound, bus-only lane along Highway 1 and Douglas Street from the Burnside/Interurban Road overpass to Tolmie Avenue.
The federal government is investing $4.92 million and the province $11.08 million for the project, with a completion date around spring 2020.
Susan Brice, chairwoman of the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, said the southbound bus-only lane is the last segment of the bus-priority lanes extending from downtown Victoria to the Highway 1 interchange with McKenzie Avenue.
The McKenzie Avenue interchange work now underway, with north and southbound bus-priority lanes to the Burnside overpass, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Northbound bus-only lanes along Douglas Street and Highway 1 were completed in December.
The latest announcement means bus-only lanes will eventually extend on Douglas Street and Highway 1, north and southbound, along the well-travelled roadway between downtown Victoria and the Highway 1/McKenzie Avenue interchange, previously a significant bottleneck.
Brice noted that when buses can move unimpeded along such a busy section of the road, the efficiency of the service improves hugely. “It means buses don’t have to get out of the traffic to do drop-off or a pickup and then struggle to get back into the traffic,” Brice said.
Improvements such as the northbound bus-only lanes that are already completed have so improved service that ridership between West Shore and downtown has gone up 35 to 45 per cent, she said.
Brice said getting support from both provincial and federal governments was huge in ensuring the last segment of the project was approved.
Trevena said the new lane will improve transit service and reduce congestion along Highway 1. “Not only will it save time for people taking transit, but it will also reduce congestion for people driving by moving buses out of the travelling lanes.”
Qualtrough noted investing in transit is a key component of the federal commitment to improving public infrastructure. “Investing in public transit infrastructure is vital to keeping pace with changing needs of residents,” she said in a statement.
