Langford has issued multiple requests to Google to not send backed-up traffic down Finlayson Arm Road, according to a city spokesperson.
Residents along the twisty, bumpy, rural road flagged safety concerns to Black Press Media ahead of the long weekend starting Aug. 4. One senior, Ross Munro — who call the road a paved cow trail — spent the previous three Fridays counting cars with a clicker, seeing more than 2,000 pass in five hours on July 28. He was anticipating that it would be even busier last weekend as drivers looked to beat the Malahat traffic by using Finlayson Arm as a shortcut.
“We are encouraging concerned local businesses/residents who have reached out to us recently to send in similar requests to Google to hopefully elevate this up the priority list of worldwide requests Google receives,” a Langford city spokesperson said.
In a previous email to Black Press, District of Highlands Mayor Ken Williams said police are “actively monitoring the traffic situation on Finlayson Arm Road.” He added that removing Finlayson Arm Road from Google Maps may prove difficult since it is a public road and not a private one, and “access may be critical in emergency situations.”
“As you know, there is an increase in traffic volumes throughout the entire region. However, it should be noted that Finlayson Arm Road is not an ideal route due to its narrow and steep nature, particularly at the Langford end. Also, there are gaps in cell coverage,” Williams wrote.
“They are already well aware of the bottlenecks that occur in the area. The last significant study involved a proposed parallel route cutting through the watershed, which faced strong opposition and was not implemented.”
READ MORE: ‘Bottlenecks’: Shortcut to beat Malahat traffic infuriates Highlands residents
