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Letter: Not planning for Duncan bypass reveals lack of vision

We need both road and rail
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Not planning for Duncan bypass reveals lack of vision

It is unfortunate renewed discussion around a highway bypass for Duncan seems to have stalled due to a lack of imagination and vision extending beyond the next election cycle.

There is no reason to suppose the electrification of our transportation systems will result in any reduction in the number of motor vehicles on our roads. The growth in numbers may slow with completion of the Vancouver Island railway, fully integrated with Island-wide public transit services. We need both road and rail. Well designed infrastructure to encourage active transportation will complete the system.

That a bypass will be needed in the not too distant future ought to be self-evident. That it will lie west of the Duncan area and run between the Somenos Road/TCH intersection in the north and a yet to be determined point south of Cowichan Tribes land should also be assumed.

As for those businesses currently located along the overloaded TCH corridor running through Duncan, if they serve a purpose now, they will continue to do so in the future. But the eight stop lights in the stretch including Allenby and Drinkwater Roads will no longer impede traffic between points north and south of the Cowichan Valley.

Tom Masters

Chemainus