UPDATED JULY 30th: A provincial announcement has pegged a start date to improve Salt Spring’s busiest road, just meeting an announced goal to begin work this summer on what is now a $22.9-million project.
Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation (MoTI) officials said construction on a 1.6-km stretch of Fulford-Ganges Road from Seaview Avenue to Cranberry Road — known locally as Ganges Hill — will begin after the Labour Day weekend, meaning crews could arrive as early as Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The contract for the extensive improvements has been awarded to Northridge Excavating, according to an announcement made Wednesday, July 24. The Victoria-based company was the lowest bidder, according to unofficial tender documents from procurement hub BC Bids, and was awarded the $17.2-million contract through a competitive process.
The remaining $5.7 million from the total budget, according to an MoTI response to Driftwood inquiries, covers all other costs associated with the project outside the construction contract value, such as engineering design, construction supervision and property acquisition. Plans included with early MoTI tender documents suggested some of the newly widened sections of roadway would need to be constructed –– at least partly –– on what had been privately held land.
During construction, single-lane-alternating traffic will be in effect while the contractor is working, according to MoTI, and delays through the project site could be as long as 20 minutes. The 50 km/h speed limit will be reduced throughout construction to 30 km/h.
Officials said Fulford-Ganges Road would likely be closed for short periods during construction, although MoTI confirmed any closures would be diverted to a temporary detour and none would take place within 20 minutes of a ferry arrival at Fulford Harbour. Transport trucks and wide loads will not be permitted to leave the main route, MoTI said, so all are being encouraged to “plan ahead.”
“The ministry’s contractor will avoid work during peak travel times to minimize traffic disruption where possible,” according to MoTI.
Contractors will be resurfacing and widening the two-lane rural road, with improvements including paved shoulders for pedestrians and cyclists — 1.2-metre-wide shoulder heading north (or downhill into Ganges) and 1.8 metres in the southbound direction, according to MoTI tender documents –– as well pedestrian crossings and refuge areas.
Additional work at the Beddis/Charlesworth intersection with Fulford-Ganges Road calls for relocating a notorious utility pole there and removing the island that sits in the middle of the first few metres of Beddis Road. Fresh white lines to indicate to cross traffic where to stop, combined with a narrowing of Beddis Road at the turn, should clear up long-time disagreements about whether southbound traffic turning left onto Beddis should turn before or after drivers turning right off Beddis onto Fulford-Ganges — with “after” prevailing, as the former option will no longer be present.
Ministry officials believe the work will be completed in summer 2025. To learn more about the project, visit gov.bc.ca/fulfordganges.