News
A Citizen's petition to stop road expansion at Davis Bay currently claims 3000 plus signatures. Doug Reid of the informal group which has been collecting signatures on the seawalk has delivered the petition to the District of Sechelt Office, and a copy to the Area Manager of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) August 16th.
Reid has requested delegate status for the September 1 District of Sechelt Council meeting, where he hopes members of the public will attend to show their support for stopping the projected expansion (7pm meeting).The petition was organized and staffed by members of the DBSWOPWABSS (Davis Bay Sea Wall Old Persons Walk and Bull Shit Society), an informal group of sea wall users. They stopped collecting signatures Sunday August 15th. "This will be enough of a statement", said Bill Matheson, "but the real place for the public to make their views known will be at the public meeting."
Residents and citizens who frequent the Davis Bay walkway are concerned that the shoulder widening leaves very little room between the traffic and the walkway... a safety concern, as well as changing the nature of the well-used and well-loved sea walk.
"Imagine that logging truck going by 2 feet away from a chain link fence at the edge of the seawalk, where there are often children and baby carriages." said Matheson.
[blockquote]The text of the petition to the District of Sechelt and MOTI:
We, the undersigned, respectfully request that DOS/MOTI immediately cease activity intended to alter the traffic pattern of the intersection of Davis Bay Road and Highway 101. Further, that a public meeting be arranged to hear the views of a broad range of Sunshine Coast residents, particularly regular sea wall users, regarding the efficacy of present plans for this intersection, and this intersection only.[/blockquote]
The solutions for safety concerns of Davis Bay residents have had differing approaches from the District of Sechelt (DOS) and MOTI, with the MOTI project solutions taking precedence as the window for spending infratstructure upgrade funding is closing. The DOS passed a motion adopting the proposed changes July 21, 2010 (See Meeting Report in Attachments below).
Vel Anderson of the Elphinstone Electors Association queried the Ministry of Transportation (TRAN:EX) about the changes to the highway. She recieved the following response from Jay Porter, Project Manager, TRAN:EX.
"Improving the safety of the province’s highways and bridges is an integral part of the ministry's mission. Because funding is scarce the ministry undertakes safety and operational studies to identify safety issues and further studies to provide possible solutions. Improvements at the Davis Bay Road intersection in conjunction with Westly Road and Whitaker Road showed that the highest safety benefit could be achieved at these locations with the limited funding available.
"The planned safety improvements at the Davis Bay Road intersection (construction of a left turn bay to address rear end collisions prevalent at this location, new signal and pedestrian crosswalk) are all improvements the community has wanted for years which was very evident from the comments and input from the 100+ residents that attended the open house held Jun 16th.
"These works make the widening of Hwy 101 unavoidable at the intersection, to widen to the sea side provides much more safety benefit, more cost benefit and has less impacts than if we were to widen to the land side. The ministry received input and support from the District of Sechelt regarding the planned works.
"The planned widening will not impact the walkway, there is landscaping around 3 memorial benches that is impacted but the ministry is working with the District of Sechelt on creating new green space near the new location of the bus bay.
"The District of Sechelt is also investigating improving and creating additional parking spaces on the nearby municipal roads to make up for the spaces lost from the safety improvements.
"The ministry views parked vehicles along Hwy 101 a safety concern, the movement of vehicles in and out of parking spaces and the ill timed opening of a door poses a threat to cyclist and moving traffic, but most importantly the drivers and passengers (children) getting in and out of the parked cars currently stand in the cycle path and are dangerously close and exposed to moving traffic."
Complete details on the project from the TRANS:EX perspective are available on their website: Hwy 101 – Sechelt – Safety Improvements.
Tony Richmond, of the Highway101 Safety Society expressed the frustration at the lack of movement on the obvious alternative: "Where is John Weston MP, where is Premier Campbell, and where was Hon. Kevin Falcon when Route 101 Safety Society circulated its package respecting Route 201 options. (See the map on this website). . . . . Premier Campbell turned us down flatly, as did his minister Kevin Falcon. Our MLA Nicholas Symons has been mute on this issue as was John Weston (he with access to all the necessary dollars). What great stimulus for the Sunshine Coast this would have been. Instead we intend to shave off the waterfront and make a left turn lane at Davis Bay."