In the two blocks of Pear Street between Shelbourne and Cedar Hill Road, there are 39 homes. Two blocks west on Church Avenue, there are 326 homes and a daycare, almost 10 times the density of Pear.
Pear Street's traffic calming is almost complete: signage announcing the 30km/h speed limit and no trucks; a prohibition on left turns off Shelbourne from 3-6 p.m. Monday to Friday; proper speed bumps; and a narrowing to a single lane where the Ophir walking trail from Elm Street connects and is illuminated by three streetlights.
Church has none of that signage, one barely marked speed bump at Ophir's four-way intersection where there's one streetlight, and the overflow from Pear Street for three hours each weekday.
Why did the folks at Saanich Planning Department neglect to include traffic calming on the most densely populated two blocks in the neighbourhood – when creating the Shelbourne Street Improvements Project, the Shelbourne Valley Action Plan and updating the official community plan?
F. Hogan
Saanich
