Courtenay Traffic de-Congestion Suggestions

Letter to the Editor:
Now that most of Courtenay's 17th Street bridge traffic flow improvements are nearing completion, consideration needs to be given to tackling the growing traffic congestion downtown. This became very evident by the long delays and lineups when Cliffe Avenue was confined to less than the normally available  three or four lanes.

Whatever the historical reasons are, we are now in a situation where much of the the regional traffic (that needs to go from one side of the Courtenay River to the other) finds itself crossing one of the two bridges. Now, the 5th Street bridge seems as busy as ever.  For practical purposes those are the only two options:

•  Adding additional lanes to the 17th Street bridge

                                               or

• building another bridge in downtown Courtenay 

Building another bridge will just encourage more traffic in the downtown or city centre area with all its related problems and at price tag that could easily exceed $ 10 million.

We need to look at ways to divert traffic away from the downtown Courtenay area.  I am talking about traffic that is "just passing through."

For example, an environmentally-sensitive causeway or tunnel could be built connecting the Courtenay Connector (29 th street) to Comox Road and with a road extending up to MacDonald.


 Also, there is no easy means to by-pass downtown Courtenay in the area north of the city. For example, consider the Inland highway exit at Strathcona Parkway to Mt. Washington and Dove Creek Road or the Piercy road exit. There a bridge could be built over the Tsolum River giving good traffic flow east-west linking Merville and area to both of these exits.

Most growing urban areas allow traffic to bypass their core areas because a good portion of the traffic has no intention of stopping and that is the case with Courtenay: otherwise there would need to be many more parking spaces built.  More traffic congestion results in more fuel being burned, higher risk of accidents, more time wasted.  Emergency vehicles would have more difficulty responding. Public transport, cyclists, electric bikes would all be affected too.

Thus it becomes an environmental issue as well.

Another Dilemma for Courtenay Homeless?

Recent action by Courtenay city council to threaten to enforce Maple Pool Campground to abide by their zoning restriction of not allowing year round permanent residents, is passing the buck: the Province no longer wants to continue to pay flood victim temporary relocation costs. However, flooding is usually viewed as a condition beyond most residents' control, regardless of zoning laws. Who can reasonably predict flooding and the extent of it? First of all, for Maple Pool management, to expose residents at lower levels to be at risk of getting flooded out suggests they should bear some responsibility in the event of flooding. Do they require the residents to sign a waiver in the event of flooding or supply some kind of warning of this possibility? What of BC Hydro last winter? Did they give proper and adequate warning prior to release of water and take proactive action in coordinating that process? Not just Maple Pool was flooded. Can the shoreline of the Tsolum River be built up in the flood prone areas sufficiently to provide some prevention and who should pay for that? Are some areas of the Maple Pool campground sufficiently high enough to allow rezoning for some permanent residents but allow the lower levels to remain zoned just for temporary residents? Recent political processes suggest that local governments are interested in addressing the aspect of homelessness but the decision of Courtenay Council, by being confrontative in the way they have done, suggests the opposite. Thus, we are faced with the question: 'In this situation, who will bell the cat?' Here are some clips of last year's flood: Letter to the Editor published in The Comox Valley Record Buck Being Passed Re Maple Pool Campground The Comox Valley Echo: Passing the Buck The Comox Valley Echo Here is an item from Maple Pool Owners.