Langford Mayor Stew Young is calling on the province to make urgent improvements, starting next week, to a stretch of provincial highway that has seen two deadly crashes in two months.
A 24-year old Nanaimo man died after a head-on crash Sunday on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Leigh Road overpass, closing the highway for five hours.
A crash in the same area on Jan. 8 also caused a fatality.
“This is an emergency priority because of the two deadly accidents and the 40 crashes that have occurred on that one stretch of space” in the last two years, said Young.
On Monday, West Shore RCMP Insp. Todd Preston and Langford Fire Chief Chris Aubrey wrote to the mayor reiterating the urgent need on the TransCanada Highway for concrete barriers to separate northbound and southbound traffic and widening of the highway to four lane between Leigh Road the West Shore Parkway.
They also stressed the need for temporary barriers and traffic calming measures to be installed now; they would remain until the road widening is complete.
“Combined, these measures will hopefully mitigate the severity of the crashes,” wrote Aubrey.
Preston said he agrees the problem requires immediate attention.
“The sad and tragic impact on the families and friends of the victims of two recent fatal accidents is a great cause for concern and if we can do anything to mitigate the outcome of any future accidents, then time is of the essence.”
Preston said concrete barriers help prevent motorists from travelling into on-coming traffic as they attempt to avoid another motorist or traffic incident.
Young said he has met with the province and urged the road improvements on the provincial highway in Langford — the addition of barriers between north and southbound traffic and the addition of an extra through road.
Planning and design work was announced and funded for the project in March 2016 and at the time Langford did blasting and other preparatory work. Construction funding has not been announced.
“We understand that this design work has been complete for some time, but the construction of the road work has not yet gone to tender,” said Young in his letter to B.C. Premier John Horgan and Transportation Minister Claire Trevena.
On Thursday, because of the fatal Jan. 8 crash on the Trans Canada, the city asked for the province to expedite the work and it was agreed that it could “move ahead” in the summer, Young said.
That all changed Sunday when a southbound BMW carrying two passengers and a northbound Acura with three passengers collided head-on just after 1 p.m. — near the Leigh Road overpass (between Exit 14 and Highway 1A) in Langford.
West Shore RCMP said passengers in the BMW had no serious injuries, however, those travelling in the Acura — in which the driver was killed — suffered “significant injuries.”
In the Jan. 8 crash, the driver was killed and a passenger was seriously hurt.
“We owe it to the families now to fix this,” said Young, suggesting work by the province should start next week. “There’s no time like now. Barriers save lives. It needs to be done immediately.”
B.C. Coroners Service confirmed it is investigating.
“I can confirm we are in the early stages of our fact-finding investigation involving a male in his 20s from Nanaimo to determine how, where, when and by what means he came to his death,” said B.C. Coroners Service spokesman Andy Watson.
