Many Camosun College students already leave their homes early to find parking at the Interurban Campus, and now BC Hydro is planning to replace a cable that runs alongside Burnside Road and Interurban Road, stretching from Mayfair Mall to the campus, starting in the spring of 2026.
One person who’s impacted is first-year kinesiology student Dakota Daykin, who lives across Tillicum Mall and uses both Burnside Road and Interurban Road to commute to school. With traffic, it takes him around 25 minutes for a five-kilometre drive.
“It’s gonna be impossible with only one route to go to school, honestly. With just the little bit of construction we have right now up the road, it slows everything down immensely.”
Stephen Watson, who works at BC Hydro, told Saanich council on Jan. 15 that the company would develop traffic, construction, and environmental management plans for the Victoria-to-Saanich cable replacement project.
In a statement to Black Press Media, Watson said that pending project funding and regulatory approvals, contruction along Interurban Road is planned to begin in 2026. There could be single-lane alternating traffic for a period of time.
“So we have time to work this through on what the local traffic impacts may look like.”
Daykin, however, is worried that the alternating single-lane would block up not only traffic on the way to the school but also those passing by.
“It’s just going to bottleneck everything. It’s already too condensed.”
Interurban Campus has another backside entrance on Markham Street, but from the Tillicum neighbourhood and other areas west of the campus, using the road can significantly increase the amount of time it takes to arrive.
“If there was the option of having a double lane somewhere, that would probably make traffic smoother,” the kinesiology student said.
“Or somehow making another road or another entrance-way into the college that doesn’t involve you having to go all the way around Wilkinson Road to get to the backside of the tech park.”
Erica Mclnposh, another first-year kinesiology student, lives near Mt. Tolmie and drives on West Saanich Road to get to campus. She uses the Markham Street entrance get to the college to avoid the existing backups because “Interurban is too busy.”
“It doesn’t make me that happy. If I have an early class and I have to get up extra early and then try and work through traffic,” said Mclnposh.
BC Hydro is still in the early planning stages of the project, Watson said. Crews will be working through the summer on the design for the placement of the cable within the roadway or road shoulder, which includes how to do the work.”
A comprehensive traffic management plan will come next.
The project is timely as one of the four underground transmission cables is critical to the electricity supply for Greater Victoria, according to BC Hydro’s website.
The new, higher-capacity, oil-free cable is replacing a direct-buried, oil-filled cable that was installed in 1976. The existing underground cable will be decommissioned once the new cable is energized.
The cable will stretch a little over seven kilometres between the Horsey Substation and Goward Substation. Before any construction happens the civil and cable design must be approved, the BC Utilities Commission application must be submitted and more consultation with First Nations must be done.
To learn more about the replacement project, residents can register for the virtual open house taking place on Friday, Feb. 2 from noon to 1 p.m.
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