Improving Highway Safety and Traffic Flow in British Columbia

Challenge

Highway 17 is a vital transportation corridor connecting communities, businesses, recreational areas, the BC Ferry Service, and Victoria International Airport. At Keating Cross Road, the existing at-grade left-turn exit was no longer meeting demand for the growing community and busy industrial area. The turn lane often overflowed, creating safety and operational concerns. Replacing the at-grade exit with a grade-separated flyover provided an opportunity to improve traffic operations and long-term connectivity. Construction had to proceed alongside active highway and municipal road networks, with changing traffic-control layouts and both daytime and nighttime work.

Solution

Tetra Tech provided construction supervision for the BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit to deliver this Major Works contract. Services included contract administration, quality assurance, survey, and dispute and claim management. The Tetra Tech team proactively addressed project challenges and coordinated traffic oversight throughout staged construction, helping maintain construction quality and communication with stakeholders.

The project replaced the at-grade exit with a 204-metre, continuous three-span curved steel I-girder flyover founded on large diameter drilled shaft piles at the piers and rock socketed pipe piles at the abutments and mass concrete substructures. Additional improvements included highway widening, a geogrid-reinforced embankment, mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls, a realigned southbound on-ramp, large volume of material disposal onsite, storm sewer capacity upgrades, stormwater retention ponds, municipal water and sewer mains, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and signal-timing improvements at the Central Saanich and Keating Cross Road intersection.