A local woman is thankful for the kindness of strangers this week after getting lost in the Highway 17A detour trying to get home to Tsawwassen.
On Monday evening, Elizabeth Sheppard was on her way home from Richmond. It was already dark when, with a friend at the wheel, the pair made their way through the George Massey Tunnel and took the usual Highway 17A (formerly Highway 17) exit off Highway 99 and headed south towards Tsawwassen.
Like many drivers this week, Sheppard and her friend were detoured with the closure between 34B and 28th avenues due to construction. Once off Highway 17A, they quickly became confused.
"We didn't really know where we were going," Sheppard said, adding it was dark and the elderly pair was traversing unfamiliar roads, and there were no visible signs pointing the way to Tsawwassen, where she has lived for 25 years.
"We went on a wild goose chase for two hours," she said.
Sheppard said she isn't quite certain exactly where they were, but thinks at one point they were out near Boundary Bay Airport when they came across a man leaving his driveway. They stopped and asked for directions to Tsawwassen.
Instead of simply pointing which way to go, Sheppard said the man guided them onto the right course and into Tsawwassen.
"At that point, we had been on the road for two hours," Sheppard said. "I'd like to thank that man because he was so nice."
Many drivers heading into Tsawwassen and to the ferry terminal faced long lines and frustration earlier this week.
On Sunday, a stretch of South Fraser Perimeter Road opened in South Delta while the section of Highway 17A had to be closed for a few days for construction. The ramp and paving work was scheduled to be completed on Wednesday and Thursday.
The detours and confusion around signage, which was dealt with later Monday, resulted in long lineups on Deltaport Way, 56th and 52nd streets as drivers tried to make their way in and out of Tsawwassen.
