The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) has announced improvements to the intersection at South Davis Road and the Trans-Canada Highway in Ladysmith.
Left turns onto the highway will be restricted and motorists on South Davis Road wanting to go north on the Trans-Canada will have to access the intersection at North Davis Road via local roads, according to the ministry.
Drivers on Baker Road wanting to go south on the highway can access the signal at North Davis Road and use local roads to access the highway. The ministry said traffic disruptions for construction at South Davis Road and Baker Road are expected to be minor and short.
“Although this is not the outcome we have been advocating for, we are thankful to the minister and his team for the continued engagement and investment over the last number of years,” said Mayor Aaron Stone. “We will continue to advocate for more convenient access to the Trans-Canada Highway while ensuring that safety is always priority number one.”
To accommodate the potential for increased traffic volumes at the North Davis intersection, the ministry said it has plans for future enhancements. The work, planned for spring 2022, includes:
- optimizing the signal timing at the North Davis Road and Trans-Canada signal to increase green time for the left-turn movement; and
- relocating the marked pedestrian crosswalk from the north side of the intersection to the south side.
The ministry is completing this work based on recommendations from the 2019 Ladysmith corridor review study.
“I look forward to working with our staff and the ministry to improve access to the Trans-Canada Highway with connections that make sense including, appropriate acceleration lanes, turn-in access, access roads and active transportation considerations,” Stone said. “This is a short-term safety measure as we continue to push for longer-term solutions that adequately support our growing community.”
A group of south Ladysmith residents lobbied the provincial government to make the intersection safer. Brian Smith has led the lobbying and said he is concerned the improvement plans have not changed since they were created in 2019, based on a traffic study conducted by Binnie Consulting on behalf of the MOTI. He said the diagram shows open space, which could be used for further improvements.
“The right in, right out design will force all traffic on South Davis, including all the new development traffic that will occur — it will force it to travel two and a half kilometres along South Davis Road through what is currently a playground zone… to the intersection of North Davis and the Trans-Canada highway.”
The North Davis Road and Trans-Canada intersection is the most dangerous intersection in Ladysmith, according to ICBC statistics. It saw 19 crashes in 2020 and 89 between 2016–2020. In that five-year period, 50 involved a casualty, which ICBC defines as a crash resulting in injury or fatality.
ALSO READ: South Davis Community group petitions government for changes to the South Davis Road intersection
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