Duncan the only Island city without a bypass
About 1955 I took my mother from Vancouver to Lake Cowichan for her to attend a birthday party.
I needed a map to find the route after leaving the ferry in Nanaimo, but was soon on the Island Highway to “Duncan”, where a right turn sign put me on the Old Lake Cowichan Road to the lake. With mom settled in I reversed course on the old road. A road like a black tunnel, twisting through the trees and with a level railroad crossing as well.
Now, of course, that road need not be used at night. A bypass was built — Trans-Canada Highway to Lake Cowichan — disguised as Highway 18 by some clever provincial road builder.
It is certainly time that bottleneck supporting politicos realize that Duncan is the only town of any size that has no TCH or Island Highway bypass on all of Vancouver Island, and two, the provincial government has already done an in-depth study on a TCH/Duncan bypass!
Were they serious? A friend who has land close to the Cowichan River was asked by B.C. government representatives if he would sell his land, for bridge supports. Another friend had a piece of his land expropriated, for a bypass!
So someone think up an attractive name for a beautiful new piece of classy road, like Valley View Way, or C.V. Skyline, Highbridge View, Fastpass.
Worldwide, growers are turning to greenhouses in any case; worrying about farmland is passé.
George Croy
Duncan