Crews have begun work on a controlled pedestrian crossing mid-way along the 3500-block of Blanshard Street between Uptown Shopping Centre and Saanich Plaza.

Expected to take four-to-six weeks to complete, the project will yield a significant safety improvement for pedestrians crossing the busy thoroughfare.

“Jay-walking on Blanshard Street remains a high-risk scenario for pedestrians and drivers so we’re very happy to start construction on this significant safety improvement work,” said Geoff Nagle, director, development - Western Canada, Morguard Investments Limited.

“We’ve planned the construction of the crossing to minimize impact on traffic at peak periods. This section of Blanshard Street is southbound only and has the heaviest traffic in the morning, so the schedule has been staggered to begin after the morning traffic and only one lane will ever be closed at a time.”

The project comes as yet another phase of infrastructure improvements at the busy shopping centre. Last year road crews re-aligned access from Douglas Street/the Trans Canada Highway onto Carey Road by replacing a no-right-turn restriction onto Carey Road with a northbound turning lane. The move came as a traffic flow improvement timed with the opening of Whole Foods.

Upgrades are also slated to begin as early as this year between the Galloping Goose Regional Trail and Carey Road, which will yield a redesign of the Carey Road and Ravine Way intersection while improving access to Uptown for trail users. C 

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Dual southbound turning lanes coming to congested Millstream Road overpass