The B.C. government will not be building a detour route for the Malahat Highway on Vancouver Island.
A report released by the province on Monday determined there are feasible detour routes but those routes have potential impacts to the community watershed and local environment.
“Due to these community and environmental impacts, the focus of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will remain on improving safety on the existing Highway 1 route, so incidents that result in longer closures can be limited,” a statement from the Ministry of Transportation reads.
“The goal of the study was to assess the feasibility of a route that could make use of existing forestry resource roads, trails and/or Greater Victoria Water Supply Area maintenance roads, with limited investment and footprint changes.”
The study looked at seven possible emergency detour routes that could be implemented during long highway closures. All routes were “determined to have environmental, engineering, property and community disruption impacts.”
Of the seven routes assessed, two were taken forward for capital cost estimates. Estimates provided by the province ranged from $30 million for Niagara Main service road, to $180 million for the Far West alignment.
“Closures of the Malahat long enough to trigger a detour occur relatively infrequently, at approximately 1.1 incidents per year on average. Since 2009, there have been seven closures of the Malahat longer than four hours in duration,” reads the statement.
“In the event of a long highway closure, the Pacific Marine Circle Route is available as a detour, with a travel time of approximately 3.5 hours.”