Re: Sooke’s traffic problems far beyond what was anticipated (News, March 31)
Who is anticipating this? Sooke council, which is blind and deaf to genuine problems in the community? They’re offering solutions like traffic light timing is ridiculous. It’s similar to prescribing ointments to cure a dying man. Doesn’t the district have a planning department that should have the infrastructure study before approving thousands of new housing units?
Many letters and opinion pieces have been published in the Sooke News Mirror describing with dismay the bottleneck on Highway 14. You don’t have to be a member of Transition Sooke to see the problem. You have to drive to Langford in rush hour and not be blind.
Peter Rambo (Letters, March 31) rightly thinks a four-lane road that could ease traffic is doubtful. It would cost billions of dollars and take decades to get approved and built.
Many letter-writers questioned the rationale of building six kilometres of four lanes in the middle of a two-lane, winding, 60-k/mh speed road with no passing. Should those six kilometres be called Highway to Nowhere?
A more practical solution would be a three-lane road with an alternating passing lane between Metchosin and West Coast Road. But this would take serious planning, courage, and perseverance from politicians of all three levels of government.
Bringing thousands more residents to Sooke will exacerbate traffic jams and air pollution.
Bringing more jobs to Sooke looks like wishful thinking. Like the proposed garbage recycling plant that can provide 35 jobs. Seriously? At least 10 times more jobs would be needed to alleviate the gridlock a bit.
Meanwhile, until any of this happens, Sooke Road can be rightfully called Dead End Highway.
Nina Leshinskaya
Sooke
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
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