Nighttime construction noise concerning for residents near McKenzie interchange site

CHEK

WATCH: Several residents in the Gorge Tillicum area say the noise from nighttime construction of the McKenzie interchange is affecting their qualify of life. Calvin To reports.

Twenty-four hour construction is affecting the quality of life of residents near the McKenzie interchange, says Rob Wickson, president of the Gorge Tillicum Neighbourhood Association. 

“If people are blasting and making noises with their machines, and the beep beep beeps and dropping rocks all over the place, it’s pretty disturbing,” Wickson says.

Since the fall, construction of the interchange has changed the area around the intersection. 

The project promises to improve traffic flow at one of the busiest intersections in the region.

85,000 vehicles pass through the intersection on a daily basis.

Phase one is already more than half completed, and the province says the project is within budget and on schedule.

But residents say the work is affecting their ability to sleep at night.

Wickson says his association’s concerns have been ignored by ministry officials.

“We’re just being run over. Completely run over by the MOTI in this. They don’t care what our neighbourhood thinks. The more we talk about things, the more they push back and make it worse,” Wickson says.

Yet the province says changes have already been made to accommodate residents. 

Driling and blasting are never done past 10 p.m., and not at all on Sundays.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure tells CHEK News that all groups have been actively engaged since the project was announced a year and a half ago.

“Not everything can be incorporated and not all concerns may be addressed in the way that everybody wants, but ministry as well as the contractor is taking all steps that they can to be able to include and make changes where it’s possible,” says Janelle Erwin, Deputy Regional Director of the South Coast Region for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. 

 

Erwin says the ministry is interested in hearing from people who have questions or concerns about the project.

The ministry can be contacted at 250-387-8700 or [email protected].

The contractor for phase one of the project, Jacob Bros., can be reached at 250-480-9696.

Calvin ToCalvin To

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