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Pedestrian walkway over McKenzie pondered for Lochside Trail

As it goes right now, travelling the Lochside Trail becomes an inconvenience when you reach McKenzie Avenue, where you have to cross four lanes of traffic to continue on your way.

Saanich is now looking at alleviating that problem by putting in an overpass.

"These plans that we have are fairly conceptual in nature," said Colin Doyle, director of engineering with Saanich. He presented the idea to council Tuesday night as part of an application for funding from the Federal Gas Tax Agreement.

The complete project is also projected to include sidewalks along a 2.5-kilometre stretch of Cedar Hill Cross Road from Richmond Road to the start of the trail.

Currently the trail crosses McKenzie at Borden Street, one block west of Cedar Hill Cross, so there's a possibility the make-up of the trail system would be slightly altered to make room for a multi-use overpass or possibly underpass.

"We haven't made the decision about what we would build. It's on the to-do list that there's an issue, which is getting pedestrians and cyclists across McKenzie," said Mayor Frank Leonard.

No consultation or design steps have been taken yet, but, to apply for Gas Tax funding, staff had to put forward a rough idea of the scope of the project.

kslavin@saanichnews.com