Robert Barron Gazette
Lake Cowichan’s David Work wants road improvements in front of his home on South Shore Road.
Work, who also operates a cafe and an art gallery from his house, said the Town of Lake Cowichan made major road improvements to many roadways and intersections in the community in 2012.
They included traffic-calming measures at many intersections, but the intersection in front of his house was not part of the project.
He said traffic-calming measures that were added at the other intersections five years ago included narrowing the road and adding signage and medians to slow traffic down.
He said the intersection in front of his house is near a school zone, is busy with logging trucks and is also a major tourist route so it can be very dangerous.
“My house has already been struck by a car,” Work said.
“I asked the mayor [Ross Forrest] and council to add traffic-calming measures at the intersection to the road work that was completed, but I’m being told that it’s not warranted and there’s no money for it.”
Work said he has been to recent council meetings to request the roadwork be completed, but has had little success.
“I’ve told them that if they don’t do it, I’ll pour the cement and make signs for the intersection myself,” he said.
“I also told them that I will refuse to pay for my annual business licence unless this work is done.”
Forrest said a number of public consultations were held in the community to gather feedback to determine what people wanted before the roadwork began in 2012.
He said Work didn’t say a word about his intersection at the time.
Forrest said the roadway in front of Work’s home is actually owned by the province, and there was cost sharing for the roadway project in 2012 between the town and Victoria.
“The work was done years ago and we have no budget for further work right now,” Forrest said.
“He is the only one speaking to this issue at this time. Mr. Work has a right to his opinion, but council also has the right to stick with the decisions that were made five years ago.”