World-renowned Vancouver Island artist, Andres Kunert is creating a dramatic stone mural along the service road retaining wall on the Island Highway.  The 60 meter art wall, which is part of the Island Highway Improvement Project (IHIP) will contain approximately 150 tonnes of stone when it is completed at the end of August.

There may be minor interruptions between 9:00AM and 3:00 PM, Mondays to Fridays as some minor landscaping works and deficiencies are corrected.

The Town of View Royal wishes to thank residents, businesses and commuters for their patience during the construction of this project.

 *** click here for work schedule (june 13-17)*** 

Click on the links below for more information on the importance of storm water management:

• Storm Water Quality
• Storm Water Treatment

Island Highway Rain Garden Design (not actual specification)

Here is an informative video, courtesy of Washington State University, on creating a rain garden for your own home:

Many of our posts have videos from Streetfilms.org, and it’s hard to resist posting another one from the thought-provoking series.  Their well-produced creations synthesize the concepts behind the Island Highway Improvement Project into bite-sized, easy-to-digest packages.

This particular film focuses on a term coined by traffic-calming expert, Dan Burden of Walkable.org.

A “road diet” is defined as “anytime you take any lane out of a road”.

Wait a minute, you say. Aren’t you adding lanes to Island Highway? Why yes, dear reader, you are correct. With so many residential and commercial driveways and the high volume of daily traffic on the two-lane roadway, adding a third, centre left-turn lane proved necessary in making the roadway more efficient. This takes the pressure off vehicles that are turning left, and allows for through-traffic to continue flowing without having to wait behind turning vehicles.  The same goes for bus-pullouts.  Adding bike lanes and sidewalks was a no-brainer, because let’s face it – we have to share the road. We’re in this together, remember? The centre medians result in less speeding and increased safety. Let’s think about that for a moment… Safety. Would you want to risk a human life just to shave a couple of minutes off your route?

Remember, we’re in this together.

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Related Links:

• Stephen Ree’s blog What’s Up with the Viaducts?
• The Vancouver Sun Forum mulls fate of Vancouver’s Georgia, Dunsmuir Viaducts, April 8, 2011
•  Planning Picture Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaduct Replacement, April 8, 2011
• VIA Architechure The Vancouver Viaduct Debate: Part 1: Does removing a road mean greater congestion?, April 15, 2011

“What may seem like a simple solution, may in fact result in many unintended side-effects.”

Just take a look to our neighbours in the south, where most of the infrastructure is based on vehicle dependency.  The suburban lifestyle can be costly not only with money but in time.  It can also contribute to serious social and health implications.  For example, the lack of walking-distance amenities can result in isolation, especially with adolescents who depend on their parents to give them a ride everywhere.

The growing pains of reclaiming the city streets have been largely highlighted during construction of the Island Highway Improvement Project. Once completed, it will provide a safer and cleaner route for pedestrians and vehicles, and contribute to a more vibrant community in View Royal.

Here’s another great video from Streetfilms.org that address a growing trend of removing highways from urban centres:

“They drain the life from the neighborhoods around them, they suck wealth and value out of city, and they don’t even move traffic that well during rush hour.”

Click here for the traffic page.

Sidewalks for the south side of Island Highway from the E&N Trestle to Beaumont Avenue is expected to be installed by Monday, March 28.  This will provide a safe, continuous walkway throughout the project.

Stay tuned for further updates on this.

*** Paving activities for the week of March 14 to March 18. Click here for traffic update.

Utility poles will remain in place until the underground installation of electrical and telecommunications lines are complete. BC Hydro has now arrived on site and has begun their underground installations, and Shaw is expected to begin within the next week. BC Hydro proposes a schedule of six weeks and is mobilizing a second crew from Nanaimo to complete the work in a timely manner. Shaw Cable and BC Hydro have indicated a willingness to work cooperatively in the job site together. TELUS has stated that the undergrounding of their cables will take an additional thirteen weeks.

Additional work such as median rain gardens, traffic signal installation, service connections, pole removal, and final paving is expected to extend beyond the initial target completion date of April 1st with occasional interruptions to traffic.

The $7.4-million federally-funded project began construction in July 2010.  Upon completion the project will include dedicated bike lanes, left-turn lanes, bus pullouts, bioswales in Portage Park and rain gardens in the centre medians that will treat storm water before entering Portage Inlet and Thetis Cove.

Click here to view the pdf version: 2011-02-16_TOVR PRESS RELEASE.

Click here for an update on construction.