A stretch of the Inland Island Highway that has been notorious for giving drivers a bumpy ride is finally scheduled to be smoothed over later this summer, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The seven-kilometre stretch of highway south of Buckley Bay, between Waterloo and Rosewall Creeks, was given a patch job that many motorist complained was a patchwork of bumps.
Several drivers commented on social media that drivers found the slow lane section so rough they chose to illegally stay driving in the fast lane in order to avoid it.
Asked for comment on the September patch job in a story for CTV News in October of 2017, B.C. Transportation Minister Claire Trevena acknowledged the complaints but did not agree with suggestion the repairs were bad workmanship.
"I don't think it's sloppiness. Nobody's doing a road, repairing a road that's going to be bad to drive on. It's not in anybody's interest," Trevena said.
In a letter to CTV News, a ministry communications spokesperson said a project to pave both directions of the slow lanes of Highway 19 was tendered on BC Bid earlier this spring and has been awarded to ARC Asphalt Recycling Inc.
ARC is the same company that previously did "hot in place" repaving on other slow lane sections of the Inland Highway. The company uses a slow caravan of equipment that rolls along roadways pre-heating the asphalt so it can be chewed up and then instantly relayed into a recycled surface.
An ARC employee said they hope to conduct their work sometime in August.
The ministry said it recognizes that people driving the route were frustrated with the rough patches and thanked the travelling public for their patience.
