Swartz Bay and Horseshoe Bay ferry terminals aren’t the only ones getting spruced up over the next decade.
B.C. Ferries’ $3.9-billion capital plan, the largest in the corporation’s history, includes 11 other large projects, such as upgrades for terminals at Tsawwassen, Nanaimo and Salt Spring Island.
On Salt Spring, the plan calls for improvements at both the Vesuvius Bay and Fulford Harbour terminals.
The Vesuvius improvements, which will start in 2022, will include replacing the marine structures and timber trestle as well as upgrading the upland components.
At Fulford Harbour, the goal is to better manage traffic boarding the ferry. The project, which will start in 2023, is intended to expand the existing holding compound and “generally improve the terminal.”
David Astill wrote in an email to the Times Colonist that getting to Fulford Village near ferry time is “nigh on” impossible.
“B.C. Ferries has their customers parking on a public road and blocking it. You can attempt to get into the village, but can only do so by driving downhill in the wrong lane,” Astill wrote.
“[B.C. Ferries] has been promising the residents of Salt Spring Island a revised ferry terminal at Fulford Harbour for over 30 years. They are always studying the problem.”
B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said Fulford is “definitely” on the corporation’s radar.
“We are very aware of the challenges at that location. We are currently having internal discussions about it and plan to reach out to the public in the coming months,” she said.
B.C. Ferries also plans to launch a public-engagement process for the Crofton-Vesuvius route in April.
At Nanaimo Harbour, improvements are planned for the marine structures that are nearing their life’s end, along with a site reconfiguration and construction of a tie-up berth. The work is expected to start next year.
At the same time, on Gabriola Island, the marine structures at the terminal will be replaced and a site reconfiguration is planned.
At Crofton terminal, the marine structures and timber trestle will be replaced and upgraded. That work should start in 2022.
B.C. Ferries has set aside $1.4 billion from its capital plan for terminal upgrades.
Overhauls of the Swartz Bay and Horseshoe Bay terminals will cost in excess of $25 million each.
The renewed Swartz Bay ferry terminal, which could see construction start as early as 2021, could include a waterfront boardwalk, a larger berth and a variety of improved amenities for both foot and vehicle passengers.
Other projects in the works range from the mid-life upgrade of the Skeena Queen to replacing the 16-vehicle-capacity Kwuna, which plies the Moresby Island-Graham Island route, along with replacing mooring dolphins at Tsawwassen’s south breakwater and hardware at B.C. Ferries’ data centre to improve technology, data security and connectivity.
Between 2019 and 2030, the corporation plans to also spend $2.3 billion on new vessels, with the goal of reducing pressure on a system that is being taxed by growing passenger demand. B.C. Ferries has said it recorded a new all-time high for vehicle traffic last year.
