Traffic stalls on Sooke Road because of work by BC Hydro
Traffic on Highway 14 (Sooke Rd) was seriously impacted today by work done by BC Hydro, reducing the road to single lane traffic. The work was being done on the stretch of road between the Shell gas station and the Stickleback, close to the 5500 mark of Sooke Rd. According to DriveBC, it was due to electrical work, and the work will be wrapped up by 3:00 p.m. today.
Cars heading out of Sooke were occasionally backed up all the way to Woodlands. Care to share your experience?
Left Sunriver at 11:30 a.m heading towards Westshore Mall, by 12:15 p.m, I only made it to the Shell station where I could see the BC Hydro sign saying work would go on until 3:00 pm. Turned around at the first opportunity knowing that I would be stuck in the same traffic only longer on the way back. A warning sign by the High School would have been great, but they probably didn’t expect a 5 km traffic jam. Never made it to the new Westshore Parkway which was supposed to open today to improve traffic flow. Ironic!
An hour to Langford and an hour 1/2 to get back ! would sure have liked it if the sign that told us Hydro would be working today and it will take at least an hour to get into Langford !! Rude !
They had two electronic signs up for a week on either side saying there would be this working going on….
That’s fine if you commute and see the signs every day. I hadn’t been into Langford for over a week. A sign a little earlier on would be appreciated. And once they realized how bad it was, surely there would be a way to have someone put up another sign closer to Sooke?
Lee Boyko I know that silly, what I did not know is that the delays were 45 to 60 min to get past them ! That would have been nice !
They likely didn’t know that either…..
You always have to expect for long delays. Sometimes things happen and sometimes they run into complications. This is why they left signs up saying expect delays. I dont know why everyone is upset. It doesn’t happen everyday.
Returning from Sooke to East Sooke thi afternoon, traffic heading into Sooke was backed up from The Stickleback all the way past the Gillespie turn off – yikes!!
They have given lots of warning and the work needs to be desperatly done. The location in this photo is where a power serge happned just over a month ago and sparks flew from the lines and landed along the embankment you see in the photo. I was there at the time and the grass caught on fire. Thankfully the fire dep. and passerbys put the fire out.
40 mins from 17mile to Shell station at 1pm today
Me too… painful.
That ridiculous.
It took me 33 minutes to get to Travel a few blocks
Like everyone else, I had to wait. All was forgotten when I drove the new connector stretch of highway that opened today in Langford. Sweet.
Well I don’t know, maybe they should work at fucking night !!!!!!?????
Maybe you should…
If I could I would!
Very costly for night work.
Very costly for the environment with vehicle sitting and idling
Shawn Hofer Why would you leave your vehicle idling if you know there is going to be a long wait?
Vehicles! Smart ass
Too dangerous!
Did it twice, not a big deal. Glad they did it outside work traffic.
This was insane. I sailed through heading into Langford but noticed traffic was backed well past Connie Rd. Did hydro even realize the impact this was going to have?
My thoughts:
-This type of work should be done at nighttime.
-They needed to have a flagger at Gillespie/Sooke to allow those poor folks to turn off.
Absolutely ridiculous today,so mad
But you like a nice warm house … hmmm !
They were disrespectful to not notify the public of the hour wait time .we all have lives jobs and children in hot cars
They need to hire better traffic control. Heading into Langford traffic backed up for miles and the opposite way 20 vehicles ?
Totally ridiculous
They should be more aware of traffic patterns – morning traffic is heavier going into Langford and vice versa in the afternoon. Let more vehicles through the one side accordingly. A 50-60 minute wait coming home around 1 was unacceptable. No wonder people are frustrated.
Exactly!!
Got stuck in traffic. Waited. Carried on with my day.
we were stuck in it this morning, about 1/2 hour wait, late for a doctor’s appointment in Langford, the sign warning people of the road work was maybe 100 yards before the work, but the sign at the Sookehalla warned people incoming to Sooke, the Municipality could have used social media to warn people of this and I don’t mean the day of I mean a few days ahead of time, honestly, it’s the only road in and out of Sooke except going thru Port Renfrew
The signs have been up for days saying when the work was taking place and what time. There was ample opportunity for those of us who travel in and out of town to prepare for this work and the delays. It’s one day, and the work needs to be done.
Katie McLaughlin sorry but I only saw one sign and it was just before the Shell station which is approximately were the work was taking place, not everyone goes past the Shell every day
And that is why there should be a minimum of one additional (center turn lane) lane so work on the side of the road doesn’t shut things down like that!
An hour to get to Langford and I intentionally stayed in town longer than initially planned so I wouldn’t be stuck on the return as well.
30 minutes into Langford , 55 minutes back out. Not cool
Do you like having power in your home? If so an extra hour and a bit out of your day, with far enough notice seems pretty reasonable.
I like to use hydro. I don’t mind waiting if they need to fix someyhing.
At least they gave us a few weeks notice.
Better now than in middle of winter! An ounce of prevention……
Also, it’s good that they cleared up before the after work rush!
It wasn’t that bad… They gave us plenty of warning… Its 1 day… Went through it twice, took 20 mins to get through going down and 30 mins back. Could of been a lot worst… And I’m 39 weeks pregnant and have to run to the bathroom every 5 mins and even I’m not complaining… They did a great job today
Atta girl Natasha give yourself a pat on the back
I was stuck in it. Didn’t catch any of the warnings but I wasn’t too phased by it. It is Canada. We have winter and construction. That includes construction of hydro lines. Finished before rush hour was smart and thoughtful too.
Quit having such a logical-positive attitude, Fran! Lol! C-:
Sorry.
Fran Nemeth Fran, can’t you just be normal and complain like normal Sooke people?
Ok, let me try….
The round about is too round!
Better?
Fran Nemeth Yep!
That’s more like it Fran! LOL!
What a bunch of whiners, I’ll bet you like returning to a house with electricity. Your gaming console, your tv … I could go on
Put your big girl panties on !!
We bitch for everything to get repaired, upgraded or replaced….then we bitch when it’s getting done. Do it during the day and everyone wines about it, do it during the night and everyone wines about it. So…let’s just deal with it and move on with more crucial things in life to worry about then waaaaa it took me an hour longer to get home. No cares given
What’s with all this logic? And how dare all these projects be undertaken during regular work hours within the 5 days of a regular work week! Wtf!
We should have all roadside workers repel from helicopters not to bother everyone too!
Legit! I’m the fan of gravel roads, no potholes or bitching that the lines on the road are hard to see!
40 minute wait not cool
The wait wasn’t really a big deal. Seeing how the flag crew didn’t handle the flow of traffic evenly was kinda lame. When inbound sooke traffic is backed up to the 17 while the outbound traffic was backed up to only Stoney ( Ayum ) creek … that’s pretty dumb.
They need to get rid of the power polls and just bury the power lines. Power lines beside busy roads and lots of trees results in lots of power outages.
Buried lines are wonderful!
Still try driving around in Toronto I could deal with Sooke rd. Anytime atleast your looking at trees and birds and other beautiful Sooke surroundings here you see crack dealers crack heads freaks and you got to sit low in your car so’s not to catch a stray bullet
why can not this work be done overnight?
Michael Gamble, did you get held up today?
No this is from 9-3 I pass by at like 7:30
There was no work today(I think) – I left sooke at 11 and didn’t see anything.
Oh! Lol- it’s a pain but it’s gotta get done!
Backed up 4 miles there is no reason if you have an open lane .they had only 400 feet max to go around could have been accomplished a lot easier if the three people standing around would have helped the flag personal