MAIN STORY: Figures reveal spike in highway traffic jams between Abbotsford and Langley
The clock is quickly ticking towards the worst month for Fraser Valley traffic jams.
Over the entirety of last August, just shy of 10 per cent of westbound traffic at Glover Road travelled slower than 60 km/h. And last year was no anomaly. Over each of the last five years, August has seen at least 50 per cent more slowdowns than the annual average.
It’s not hard to see why. August and July are consistently the busiest for traffic between Abbotsford and Langley. Perhaps surprisingly, highway traffic volumes while the Abbotsford Airshow is running aren’t significantly higher than for other August days. (Daily speed counts for August are rare, so it’s impossible to determine whether that normal amount of traffic moves slower on account of the air traffic.)
Rather, the highway is just consistently clogged with volumes approaching 100,000 vehicles each day. By comparison, the busiest days in November approach 88,000 vehicles per day.