Traffic originating outside of Saanich is increasingly threatening the safety of residents in rural Saanich.
That is message from a group of residents concerned about the state of roads in rural Saanich, specifically, Prospect Lake Road, Sparton Road, Goward Road, southern Old West Saanich Road and Oldfield Road within Saanich.
Members of the group calling itself Livable Roads for Rural Saanich (LRRS) appeared before council last week to raise these issues and expanded on them in a recent interview with the Saanich B次元官网网址.
B次元官网网址淚t boils down to at-risk users not being able to use the roads they live on,B次元官网网址� said Guy Chester, one of the members. B次元官网网址淭hese roads become rat roads to get around the commuter hours,B次元官网网址� he said.
This phenomenon appears especially prominent on Prospect Lake Road, Sparton Road, Oldfield Road and the southern section of Old West Saanich Road, he said.
B次元官网网址淵ou can see it during rush hour when it [traffic] stacks up,B次元官网网址� said John Potter, another group member. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 people coming off the Trans-Canada Highway, and coming off the Island Highway that come up Prospect Lake Road and wiggle through, either going up West Saanich [Road] or through Sparton [Road], travelling north up the Peninsula, because it is just plain quicker for them.B次元官网网址� Users have also tried to avoid Highway 17 by way of Interurban Road, Old West Saanich Road and Oldfield Road.
In short, rural Saanich faces what economists call a free-rider problem: it provides a service (roads) but cannot force out-of-area users living on the West Shore or on the Peninsula to contribute to their upkeep, while absorbing various costs, including reduced quality of life. In fact, their heavy, inappropriate use has become dangerous.
B次元官网网址淭hese roads are being misused, whether it be by size, volume or speed,B次元官网网址� said Chester. B次元官网网址淭hey are completely unusable for any other type of users [such as pedestrians or cyclists] unless you want to take your lives in your own hand.B次元官网网址�
Of particular concern are trucks with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) rating in excess of 5,500 kilograms that use all these roads as shortcuts to Central Saanich in violation of SaanichB次元官网网址檚 trucking bylaw.
So what is to be done? Pam Harrison, another group member, said the group has been working with Saanich to document the problem and develop traffic calming measures that respect the rural nature of the area. One early success includes the development of a pilot project that will place signs in the area alerting to motorists to other users.
Harrison said she does not want to see the area cut off from the rest of the region.
B次元官网网址淩ural Saanich has many values embedded in the Rural Saanich Local Area Plan, which we offer happily to all communities,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲e cover markets, vineyards, [riding], [Elk and Beaver Lakes] all sorts of things,B次元官网网址� said Harrison. B次元官网网址淭hose are quite valuable, and we hope to foster those. It is hard to do that as a cut-through.B次元官网网址�
Harrison said the group has also had discussions with the community association in Central Saanich, which has its own set of rural traffic issues.
B次元官网网址淏ased on what are told by Central Saanich, we are not welcomed because we are not ratepayers in Central Saanich,B次元官网网址� said Chester. B次元官网网址淥ur issues are to be dealt with by Saanich,B次元官网网址� added Harrison. This said, the group has had fruitful discussions with the Central Saanich Police.B次元官网网址淚t is actually because of subsequent work with Central Saanich police that we now have the truck signs up on the Central Saanich portion of Oldfield and Keating, and we have had positive dialogues with [Central Saanich],B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭his cooperation has been achieved by LRRS efforts.B次元官网网址�
The group has not given much thought to taking their case to neighbouring communities, or even the Capital Regional District. Rather, it has focused on building up credibility with Saanich staff to help come up with a local solution in the absence of a regional approach, said Leo Polowich.
B次元官网网址淲e know that problem is not going to go away, said Chester. B次元官网网址淪o how are we going to mitigate it? We know the pressure is not going to go away. Langford and Colwood arenB次元官网网址檛 going to stop building permits.B次元官网网址�
Potter agrees. B次元官网网址淎t the end of the day, we are pretty sure that the only people who can do anything about this is Saanich, so that is where we are focusing on,B次元官网网址� he said.
But it is not hard to hear the frustrations of the group, which feels municipalities work in silos at the expense of the greater whole. B次元官网网址淚t is just one example of the ludicrous nature of having 13 municipalities,B次元官网网址� said Chester.
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