Ucluelet and Tofino mayors are cheering provincial government plans to fix and widen the most notorious stretch of Highway 4, the route to Vancouver Island’s southwest coast.

“These improvements are the best that could be done on that whole particular stretch of highway, from Port Alberni right through to the west coast,” said Tofino mayor Josie Osborne in a telephone interview.

article continues below

“It’s a bad, bad section,” said Ucluelet Mayor Dianne St. Jacques. “It’s a job that really needs to be done.”

Work is set to begin in the spring on a $30-million, two-year project to widen a 1.5-kilometre section of Highway 4 known as Kennedy Hill. It borders Kennedy Lake about 14 kilometres east of where the highway splits to head northwest to Tofino and southeast to Ucluelet.

According to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, it will require major blasting and removal of 300,000 cubic metres of rock, enough to fill 130 Olympic swimming pools. The cost is being shared, with $16.5 million from the province and $13.5 from Ottawa.

One side of the highway section features a sheer rock face rising directly from the asphalt. In one area, the rock face even hangs over the road, creating a hazard for tall trucks. Meanwhile, the other side drops down near vertically to the lake.

On Oct. 19, 2010, two paramedics were killed on that stretch when their ambulance smashed through the lakeside concrete barrier, fell into the lake and sank. It’s believed the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Osborne and St. Jacques said most west coast residents have harrowing stories about Kennedy Hill experiences.

That section of road is too narrow for two large transport trucks going opposite directions to pass, St. Jacques said — one truck must wait for the other to clear the area. When she sees a big truck or a camper van ahead, she said, she pulls over and waits before entering that stretch.

Tourists spotting distractions such as bears routinely stop to gawk and block traffic. Osborne said locals refer to the phenomenon as a “bear jam.” With no shoulders, such vehicles instantly become a hazard.

Both mayors noted that like most of Highway 4, Kennedy Hill was originally a logging road.

It has since been paved, but it was never widened to accommodate modern highway traffic.

Nor was the underlying earthwork made weatherproof for the long term. So bumps and hollows are always developing.

With a rock face on one side, rainwater routinely erodes the edges of the roadway — no small problem when the west coast of Vancouver Island annually receives more than three metres of rain.

Locals tell of rainwater flooding across the pavement and causing cars to hydroplane going uphill at Kennedy Lake — water so deep that if you stand on the asphalt, it will flow over your shoes up to your ankles.

“It’s a really bad section, a scary spot,” said St. Jacques. “It’s going to take a lot of engineering and a lot of money.”

But she said the result will be magnificent: Not only will that section of Highway 4 become safer for motorists, but it will feature shoulders and a pullout spot with a left-turn lane to handle traffic in both directions.

It will be big enough to accommodate cars and tour-buses and offer picnic tables and a magnificent view of Kennedy Lake for visitors and locals alike, she said.

“It’s going to be spectacular,” said St. Jacques. “When you drive that section of road now, it’s hard to imagine, but it’s going to be just awesome.”

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is planning two information sessions for west coast communities:

• Tuesday, Jan. 23, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Best Western Tin Wis.

• Wednesday, Jan. 24, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Ucluelet Community Centre.

rwatts@timescolonist.com