This was one of the 1998 TAC Environment Achievement Award Nominations (1). As part of the Vancouver Island Highway Project (VIHP), the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways has undertaken major highway improvements along 8 km of the Trans Canada Highway immediately west of Victoria. The Victoria Approaches, as this project is known, is part of a regional transportation strategy to increase highway capacity to accommodate population growth in communities west of Victoria. The Victoria Approaches highway project parallels and corsses Craigflower Creek, a small stream that has been affected by urban encroachment and water quality impairment. The lower 4 km of this stream, the section accessible to anandromous fish, supports an annual run of up to 200 coho salmon and a small population of sea-run cutthroat trout. The coho salmon population is the subject of a community-based salmon enhancement project. The road network for the Victoria Approaches project crosses Craigflower Creek at six locations and closely parallels the stream for 1.2 km. Considerable effort was therefore required to avoid and mitigate the project's impact on the stream. This paper describes the planning and implementation of impact mitigation for Craigflower Creek. Plans of the project are and photographs are also attached. (A)
Abstract