A webcam provided by DriveBC allowing residents to view the driving state of Highway 18 online is being moved to a different location.
The Cowichan Lake camera was down and unavailable to view Wednesday, amidst snow flurries, as the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure are in the process of moving the camera.
DriveBC’s website read “the Cowichan hwycam on Hwy. 18 is currently unavailable. The webcam is in the process of being moved to another location in the area. Stay tuned!”
The webcam’s old position used to be looking west on Highway 18 approximately 10 kilometres west of Highway 1.
Robert Adam from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure confirmed the reason behind the move.
“The Cowichan webcam will be moved to the intersection of South Shore Road and Pacific Marine Road on Highway 18 and face east, approximately six kilometres west of Lake Cowichan,” said Adam in an email. “The webcam is being moved to provide the public with a better view of the conditions west of Cowichan Lake.”
The webcam closest to the old Cowichan one is the Skutz Falls webcam.
It is also located on Highway 18, at Skutz Falls Road looking west but Adam says the old one was too close to that, emphasizing the need for a move.
“The previous location was near the Skutz Falls webcam, so the cams were providing similar information.”
The new location is also likely to make for better broadcasting.
“The new location will also improve the telecommunications of the cam because it will be connected to a landline instead of a cell tower,” said Adam, who could not confirm when the new webcam would be up and running.
