If you’re planning to travel outside of Greater Victoria today by boat, plane or roadway there aren’t any delays as of yet. But that could change as long weekend travel volumes are expected to increase this afternoon.
B.C. Ferry services to and from the Island are running on time, with no waits.
Deborah Marshall, Executive Director of Public Affairs the BC Ferries says long weekend traffic started building up on Thursday and she doesn’t expect it to abate until Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s probably our busiest long weekend of the year,” she said.
Peak ferry travel times are this Saturday to the 1 p.m. sailing and on the Monday holiday, again up to the 1 p.m. sailing. Sunday is typically the quietest travel day during the long weekend period.
Marshall said they expect around 30,000 passengers and 8,000 vehicles over the long weekend — a 25 per cent jump in overall travel from normal weekends. She advises people to check the BC Ferries website and their Twitter account for the latest travel conditions.
She added people, whether they are walking on or have reservations, should plan to arrive early, to account for heavy long weekend traffic.
As of 1 p.m. Friday afternoon, traffic volume is beginning to build northbound towards the Malahat section of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Traffic volumes beginning to build NB near Leigh Rd in Langford for those travelling over the Malahat #yyjtraffic pic.twitter.com/jaoUCgtD4u
— Goldstream News (@GoldstreamNews) August 4, 2017
This was also the case on Thursday, as delays were reported before the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure could reopen a northbound lane that’s been closed for construction.
#yyjtraffic #malahat
— Danielle Biscoe (@DanielleBiscoe1) August 3, 2017
Traffic backed up to Goldstream, heading north. Southbound traffic clear. https://t.co/rTrN920elH
The security delay at the Victoria International Airport is estimated at zero to five minutes.
James Bogusz, Vice-President of Operations at the Victoria Airport Authority, reminds passengers to arrive at least 90 minutes before their scheduled flight. New security screening rules also mean that people’s electronic devices need to be fully charged and out of their protective cases - failure do do so could result in longer security times.
Visiting the VAA’s website will provide travelers with up-to-date airline departure and arrival times, as well as the current length of security screening times.
