Traffic jams on winding, narrow Finlayson Arm Road thanks to GPS algorithms guiding drivers

Motorists looking for a shortcut to the Malahat end up on the road, which is filled with surprise inclines and a hairpin turn or two.

4 comments

Eric Doherty, a Victoria-based transportation planning consultant, said that widening Finlayson Arm Road would only bring more traffic. “You can either try to kind of do this patchwork increase of road and highway capacity — which actually makes the problem worse — or you get to the root of the problem.”

Finally I hear something like that that isn't an opinion piece! I think I'm gonna cry.
“People used to drink and drive on this road like crazy, going 120 miles an hour,” he said. “It was never a problem"

Uhhh, yes it was.
Google map it. They're not kidding about it being thin.

And if you gmap a route from willis pt to mill bay, you're gonna see it offered. Right now, it's the recommended route.
- I live in Shawnigan Lake, I've taken that route a few dozen times. Both for accidents, and If the highway is backed up past the Millstream offramp because it saves about an hour at that point and I just want to get home. That being said, I only do it in my car, I won't even do it in my Minivan due to poor visibility. I also almost never go into town on Fridays, so it's not something I commonly need to use.
  
  It's only really become a significant bypass during this latest construction (of the washout repairs) because of where the bottleneck currently is. It should settle down again when they finish in the fall/winter.