Driving B.C. home: Behind the scenes at the province's transportation management centre
CBC
It's a snowy day in December, one month after historic rain and flooding caused chaos on B.C.'s highway network, and government agencies are issuing further travel and weather warnings.
But at the headquarters of DriveBC, a communications arm of the Ministry of Transportation that provides up-to-date road and travel information for drivers province-wide, all seems calm.
Since a series of storms in mid-November destroyed at least 200 sites on highways in the Lower Mainland and the Interior, government officials have been constantly reminding travellers to check DriveBC's website and Twitter accounts for the latest road news.
Inside the Transportation Management Centre (TMC) in Coquitlam, on the edge of the roaring Trans-Canada Highway, are the people working around the clock to help make that happen. And while the stakes are high, the energy is almost peaceful.
DriveBC may seem like an automated system, but it has TMC agents like Aidan Mouellic, who are responsible for pulling the trigger on tweets and changing the messaging on over 150 electronic traffic signs province-wide.
"Everything to do with DriveBC or Twitter — it's people behind it … just trying to get everyone home safely," said Mouellic.
Three agents are on shift, working in almost total silence in a dimly-lit, Batcave-like control room alongside Ministry of Transportation contractors who are operating the lanes on the Lions Gate Bridge and the Cassiar and Massey tunnels.
An entire wall is covered in live feed from multiple traffic cameras beaming onto a massive screen. In total, there are about 380 highway cameras strategically positioned around B.C.
Not only are agents watching this feed, they are also constantly communicating with road maintenance contractors, Ministry of Transportation staff and first responders to make sure the information they are putting out is current and accurate.
"Because B.C. is so vast, if you tell someone that a highway is closed and you're wrong, you can detour someone for hours," said Porya Khorsandi, supervisor.
And sometimes, lives and livelihoods hang in the balance.
Mouellic's first day on the job was July 7, 2017, the same day the province declared a state of emergency as raging wildfires tore through the Interior.
"People didn't have ways out of their towns. Williams Lake, for a moment, had no highways that were actually open and people were reaching out and asking us, 'Where can we go?'" he recalls. "Unfortunately, we had to tell them to shelter in place."
An "overwhelming" experience, Mouellic said the fires did renew his faith in Twitter, which acted as a critical lifeline for people in need.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Montreal officials will hold a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre today.
The City of Regina's proposal to build a roadway through the McKell Wascana Conservation Park should be discarded, local conservationists say.
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.