Cowichan Valley residents say Trans-Canada Highway traffic a 'mess'

Some residents of Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island say a section of the Trans-Canada Highway running through Duncan is a "traffic mess" and they're calling for a bypass around the city.

The stretch of road has several traffic lights and some motorists say theycan be stuck there for up to an hour.

"Sometimes you wait two or three lights to get through [an intersection]. And then there's another one," said Andrew Poland, who runs Poland Crane and Hauling in Duncan.

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Poland noted that there are 13 sets of traffic lights on the13-kilometre stretch of roadand it can get very congested.

Highway getting worse, says resident

"It's very frustrating," hetold On the Island guest host Khalil Akhtar.

Poland said the traffic can easily add an extra half an hour or 45 minutes to histrips to his customers.

Bill Dumont, a forestry consultant who lives in Cobble Hill, south of Duncan, saidhighway traffic has grown worse.

"Any kind of delay through Duncan now for minor construction will back up traffic for like five miles," Dumont said.

"We're going to get a new hospital in the Cowichan Valley (to be built north of Duncan)and God help anybody who needs that hospital, living south of Duncan, because the ambulance has to go through that traffic mess to get to the new hospital," he said.

"We've got to fix this road."

Dumont saida report commissioned in 2005 by the City of Duncan, along with the Cowichan Valley Regional District and other local authorities, discussed four possible routes for a bypass.

Bypass too costly, says mayor

But Duncan Mayor Phil Kent saida bypass would be costly and there are other solutions that can beput in place.

Kent saidthefour routes cited in the 2005 study were "very, very conceptual."

He said the proposed routes had various drawbacks, including negative environmental impacts and the potentialdisplacement of business and residential properties.

Kent said acquiring the additional land needed to build a bypass would be very costly, and would only benefit about a third of all commuters because he saidit is mostly local traffic using the route.

Kent also said that the city has acquired land within its jurisdiction so that the corridor can be widened in the future. Hesaid healso supports the utilization of a nearby disusedrailway linefor passenger rail.

The mayor concededthere is congestion in the city core, but said he is able to drive through the area in about 10 minutes.

Listen to the interview with Andrew Poland and Bill Dumont on CBC's On the Island:

Listen to the interview with Duncan Mayor Phil Kent on CBC's On the Island:

With files from On the Island and CHEK News.