Section of Pandora Avenue closed for third annual maintenance operation, prompting concerns over displacement and safety

A busy stretch of Pandora Avenue in downtown Victoria was temporarily closed Thursday as city crews carried out the third annual intensive clean-up and maintenance operation along the 900-block corridor, a co-ordinated effort that also reignited concerns from harm reduction advocates about the impact on unhoused residents.

The City of Victoria says the scheduled operation brings together Public Works, Parks, the Urban Clean Team and Community Safety Bylaw Services to complete a round of work that is not possible during routine maintenance. Crews began at 7 a.m. Thursday, with enhanced operations starting around 9 a.m.

Work included graffiti removal, debris clearing, tree pruning, asphalt patching, lighting upgrades and roadway painting, with heavy equipment brought in to support larger infrastructure tasks.

Traffic was detoured around the corridor, and fencing was adjusted throughout the day to allow access for crews and manage safety in the work zone.

Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said the annual operation is part of a planned effort to maintain a heavily used downtown corridor that requires periodic intensive attention.

“This is the third year in a row we’ve done this,” Alto said. “It allows us to complete the kinds of work that can’t be done safely or efficiently day-to-day—everything from pavement repairs to fire risk reduction and infrastructure maintenance.”

Alto acknowledged the disruption caused by the closure, but said advance notice was provided to service providers, residents and businesses in the area.

She also said traffic routing was adjusted during the morning after initial detours proved inefficient, with crews shifting vehicles away from Vancouver Street and toward Cook Street.

Some fencing remained in place throughout the operation, which the mayor said is being actively assessed.

“It comes down to do the work, some of it will go back up, some of it will stay down,” she said. “The goal eventually is to remove the fencing and to provide access to the blocks of the pandora corridor that you would have access to anywhere else in the city.”

There was no timeline given on when these changes will happen.

The presence of bylaw officers and police during the operation raised concerns among health-care providers and harm reduction advocates working on the block.

Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy said her team was on site providing support and harm reduction supplies, but that the visible enforcement presence can have a chilling effect on people who use nearby services.

“People often move away from supervised spaces and use alone,” she said. “That increases the risk of overdose and death.”

Wiwcharuk said repeated displacement linked to enforcement and clean-up operations can contribute to instability for people experiencing homelessness, including loss of belongings, disrupted access to services and increased isolation.

She also pointed to what she described as a broader reliance on enforcement-based responses rather than housing solutions.

The City of Victoria maintains that outreach and service access remain central to its approach, noting that additional shelter and service spaces have been created in recent years with provincial involvement.

“We had ambassadors at each end of the block, making sure people knew how to get to our place in the harbour and other services in the block. It is stressful for sure, because these are folks who are very vulnerable and need access to services,” Alto said.

“I’ve talked about a lot how the city has spent millions of dollars providing destinations for people to go who are unhoused. That’s now up to almost 100 spaces. Some of those folks will have been accommodated and others are still waiting for the next phases, and hopefully also the appropriate interventions and contributions of the provincial government whose authority and responsibility this actually is.”

Wiwicharuk said during the operation, activity at the nearby Harbour Supervised Consumption Site on Pandora Avenue appeared reduced compared with typical levels.

Despite differing perspectives, both officials and advocates agree Pandora Avenue remains at the centre of complex and ongoing challenges involving public space management, health care and housing.

Crews are expected to complete the majority of work by the end of the day, with the city saying it will review the operation’s impact before determining how fencing and corridor access will be adjusted in the months ahead.