Crews have opened another lane on the Malahat, just in time for the Victoria Day long weekend.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, crews have made significant progress in excavating rock to widen the Trans-Canada Highway, and the ministry is working to re-establish the second northbound lane on Highway 1 through the Malahat Village on weekends throughout the summer.
Crews conducted line painting earlier this week with the additional lane opening Wednesday morning after rush hour – just in time for the May long weekend – and it will stay open until Tuesday.
The ministry also noted contractors will not be working from Friday morning until Tuesday night during the long weekend.
RELATED: Watch for lane shifts on the Malahat beginning Wednesday
More safety improvements in the works for Malahat
Good news #yyjtraffic! The #Malahat is now running two lanes northbound after crews made good progress excavating rock to widen highway. The additional lane will stay open for the long weekend through to Tuesday (and open Fri afternoons to Sun evenings for rest of summer). pic.twitter.com/H8u9qd3Vgj
— BC Transportation (@TranBC) May 16, 2018
As for the rest of the summer, the ministry plans to open the second northbound lane Friday afternoons to Sunday evenings on non-holiday weekends. Long weekends will see two northbound lanes and one southbound lane from Friday afternoons through Monday evenings.
However, the ministry is advising travellers to continue to expect delays of up to 20 minutes and intermittent stoppages outside of peak periods while construction is ongoing.
Local police forces are also actively enforcing the construction speed zones and drivers are reminded to use caution and obey the posted speed limit of 60 kilometres an hour at all times.
The ministry thanked motorists for their patience during construction of these safety improvements throughout the Malahat Village.
