Two-way traffic across Salt Spring Island’s newest bridge will have to wait a few more weeks, according to officials, while crews complete final safety and embankment work ahead of a planned winter construction shutdown.
Temporary traffic signals — still the island’s only traffic lights — will likely remain in operation until the end of January at the site for the new Cusheon Creek Bridge, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit, when they will be removed and two-way traffic will be restored until work starts back up in the spring.
That springtime effort will include final landscaping and paving on the bridge deck and approaches and will be completed as soon as weather conditions permit, according to the ministry, adding that the public would be kept up-to-date in advance of crews’ return or if any traffic changes are required.
Meanwhile, the new bridge itself is in place, and initial paving has been completed on the bridge approaches. The project, on Fulford-Ganges Road between Horel and Cusheon Lake Roads, was planned largely in response to the 2021 atmospheric river event that flooded Fulford-Ganges Road at Cusheon Creek; traffic there was fully halted for several days, with the road shoulder completely washed out.
The creek runs from Blackburn Lake to Cusheon Lake. A 2023 report from the ministry’s project manager noted the next “significant weather event” there could result in a complete failure of the road. That stretch of Fulford-Ganges Road sees significant vehicle traffic; a ministry study in 2023 counted an average of more than 4,300 vehicles passing the project area every day.
The bridge design was approved by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and provides improved fish passage, restoring a “more natural stream environment,” according to planning documents –– and should better balance water levels between Blackburn and Cusheon lakes during extreme weather events.
For updates visit gov.bc.ca/saltspringislandprojects.