It might be time to reassess the nickname for Vancouver Island's most notorious commute, according to B.C. Premier John Horgan.
Speaking at a Victoria Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday, Horgan addressed concerns about the dreaded "Colwood Crawl," the stretch of Trans-Canada Highway connecting the West Shore to downtown Victoria that is often plagued with bumper-to-bumper traffic at peak periods.
But Horgan declined to use the traditional name for the commute, opting instead to call it the "Saanich Stall."
Horgan said he wanted to reflect that the bottleneck usually begins in the Saanich portion of the TCH.
"I do that in deference to Colwood, because the 'Colwood Crawl' has been overused, and in fact, the problem starts in Saanich in my opinion," Horgan said to laughs.
CTV Vancouver Island's Andrew Johnson launched an informal Twitter poll asking people to weigh in on their preferred name.
Aside from Colwood Crawl and Saanich Stall, some of the suggestions included:
- Langford Lockup
- Westshore WTF
- Malahat Mayhem
- This Sookes
- View Royal Vortex
- Mackenzie Maelstrom
There's been no shortage of solutions pitched for the ongoing traffic jam, which has worsened in recent years due to construction of a new McKenzie Interchange.
Roughly 85,000 trips are made per day on the corridor, according to B.C.'s transportation ministry.
In early February, the mayors of all 13 Greater Victoria municipalities came together to demand the province alleviate commuter woes by fixing the unused E&N rail line between Langford and Victoria.
Other pitches have included a ferry between Royal Bay and downtown Victoria and a bridge connecting Colwood to Esquimalt.
