Here’s thinking outside the box about the Malahat
After listening to the cries of the stranded motorists on this evening’s CHEK news when a boulder fell on the Trans-Canada Highway this morning and closed the flow of traffic for a three-hour gridlock. Their pleas for an alternate route on thismajor artery into and out of Victoria have been heard so many times already.
How can we have an alternate route into and out of Victoria? May I offer two possibilities, both of which are outside the box.
1. Tear up the railway tracks (ouch! I never thought I’d ever say that!) and make a decent high-speed highway, but, make it only a one-way road as the width of the present railway is so narrow. The traffic in the morning would be southbound to Victoria and in the afternoon/evening northbout out of Victoria.
2. Keep the railway (upgraded) and use the very successful Baltimore, Maryland system of buses that are very versatile as they have a mechanical system that allows them to be used either on the roadway and/or on a railway track.
OK, I realize that both of these propositions are flawed (especially for those wanting and waiting for the return of a usable train schedule on tracks that have lain dormant for so long) but, the public are getting very frustrated with a major highway that can be shut down so easily and for so long.
Come on people! Demand that our governments, provincial and federal, need to address this problem, which seems to have no solution in sight.
Peter Elliott
Duncan