Malahat commuters feeling the pain of major construction delays

Traffic on the Malahat Highway experienced majordelays last weekend and some drivers want to see changes to the construction work at the root of the problem.

A director with the Ministry of Transportation says as work continues on improvements tothe highway, delays will happen; but acknowledgedlast weekend's were far too long.

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"This is a construction project so there will be some delays," Janelle Erwin told All Points West host Jason D'Souza. "But we certainly see an opportunity here to improve on what we saw last weekend."

Five kilometres of the northbound lane have seen closures for the safety work, taking the route from two lanes to one.

Erwin says engineers are working a way to reduce the pain for commuters.

Driving unavoidable for some

Cobble Hill resident Joanne Stephenson said it her took two and a half hours to drive home from Victoria last Friday a trip that normally takes about 40 minutes.

Stephensonsaid she first noticed the northbound traffic chaos at 11 a.m. that day, when cars were already backed up from the Shawnigan Lake Road exit all the way to Victoria.

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"I'm looking at the traffic on the other side of the road, wondering how I'm going to get home," she said. "I knew I was doomed."

Stephenson drives back and forth from Victoria to help care for her elderly parents who live in a care home. Herbiggest fear is how long delays might impact emergency services for people living along the Malahat.

'We appreciate the frustration'

Erwin agreed that Friday's long delays were unacceptable.

"We appreciate the frustration travellers had last Friday," she said. "While we expect some construction delay as we continue our project, that is more than we expected and more than we think is acceptable."

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She said one changegoing forward will be an end to Friday morning closures. Engineers are also considering ending closures on the weekends.

Erwin said Malahat improvements can be expected to continue through the fall of 2018.

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With files from Elizabeth McArthurand CBC Radio One's All Points West