Lots of exciting improvements are happening in Colwood that might cause some delays on the roads.

Check traffic before you go

Use the information below and Colwood's Traffic Dashboard to choose the best time and route for your trip. Whenever possible, we encourage people to travel outside peak hours, leave a few minutes early, or choose an alternate route. The City is able to monitor traffic in real time and work with contractors to coordinate work as much as possible and make adjustments as needed. Sometimes projects are scheduled concurrently to shorten the overall impact on traffic.

Traffic delays may be expected

Check the recent PUBLIC NOTICES  for information about work happening around the City that may cause traffic delays.

Below are some areas where improvements has been taking place recently.

Wishart Road and Benhomer Drive 

Town Centre

  • Colwood Corners on Sooke Road - ongoing
    Road line painting - April 2023
     
  • Intersection upgrades anticipated in the 5-year Financial Plan: Wale at Wilfert (2023), Cairndale at Veterans (2024), Sooke at Mount View (2025), Sooke at Metchosin (2026)
     
  • Galloping Goose bridge over Sooke Road scheduled to begin construction in 2023
     
  • Allandale District on Veterans Memorial Parkway
    Intersection, road works, boulevards, lighting and servicing complete

Royal Bay / Latoria

Lagoon Neighbourhood

Did you know? Quick facts about road construction and traffic planning in Colwood:

Traffic control personnel are certified: Safe practices for traffic control are mandated through the Traffic Management Manual for Work on Roadways which is published by the Ministry of Transportation. All certified traffic control companies are required to abide by this document. Please do your part by obeying all directions and signs.

Road surfaces in active work zones are often temporary: It will be bumpy in the active work zone, so please take your time. When several stages of work are required, temporary asphalt is often put in place to allow for repeated underground access at each stage of the project. It would increase the length of the project and add significant cost to have contractors mill out the existing trench and repave the surface each time.

Road works adjacent to new construction are generally managed by the property owner/developer, guided by a development agreement where the City has stipulated requirements. City staff do regular site inspections, however the finer details and exact timing of works is often influenced by specific project, labour and supply contingencies.

Colwood monitors traffic in real time: The City of Colwood monitors and collects traffic data in real time and over time that supports transportation planning to guide and evaluate transportation improvements including road upgrades, sidewalks, intersections, transit upgrades etc. Check Colwood's Traffic Dashboard

Every development application includes a traffic impact assessment: A Traffic Impact Assessment demonstrates how the development will impact traffic on surrounding routes. This information drives the design and timing of road improvements the City requires developers to construct as part of the development agreement. Often road upgrades are triggered once a specific number of new homes are constructed.

A brief delay is expected in most major intersections at peak hours: Transportation planners use traffic data to define Level of Service as Free Flow (no delays), Stable Flow (expected delays), Unstable Flow (considerable delay) and Forced Flow (long delays). Level of Service is generally the trigger that determines the timing of improvements such as an intersection upgrade, turning lane addition or transit increase.