Skip to content

Shelbourne Street consultation costly, obvious outcome

Letter to the editor on planning process for Saanich's Shelbourne corridor revitalization project

Over the last several weeks the municipality of Saanich has been removing patches of road and filling it in with fresh asphalt on Quadra Street north of Tolmie Avenue in an effort I guess, to rehabilitate a worn-out roadway. This week they’ve removed the whole road surface, curb to curb, I guess to do what needed to be done in the first place: doing the job right.

Recently we heard that an “outside consultant” has advised Saanich against turning Shelbourne Street into a two lane roadway from the present four, from Feltham Street to Hillside Avenue.

I’m not sure which is so incomprehensible, the fact that anyone would even consider such an absurd idea, or the fact that they had to hire an “outside consultant” to figure this out for them.

Is there not one person in the planning or engineering departments that know how to design roads? How difficult can it be? It’s a pretty straight road with no hills and only three major intersections at McKenzie Avenue, Cedar Hill X Road and Hillside.

Pave the damn thing, narrow the lanes by six inches and add bike lanes. And if the sidewalks need to be narrowed by six inches, do it. I’ve never seen a congested sidewalk.

I sure hope these aren’t the same people that want to run and maintain our billion-dollar sewage treatment system.

Bob Broughton

Saanich