Design of the McKenzie interchange has shifted into final gear but critics among more than 250 people attending Wednesday’s open house on the $85-million project still have a voice.
“It’s a very short-sighted and short-term fix,” said Arden Little, who lives in the McKenzie Burnside neighbourhood.
Little said the real problem is that the plan caters to single-occupant vehicles rather than enhancing transit options. “I think it’s an improvement, but not much of an improvement,” he said, referring to “inadequate” B.C. Transit service going a little faster.
The open house came barely a week after Saanich council voted to ask the B.C. Ministry of Transportation to change its mind on the partial cloverleaf design selected for the interchange, citing concerns about the impact on nearby Cuthbert Holmes Park. The partial cloverleaf will require 1.4 hectares of the 25.6-hectare park.
Saanich council also asked that seven or eight more environmental mitigation efforts be included.
The cloverleaf request was rejected by Transportation Minister Todd Stone but citizens still have leeway to make suggestions on other aspects before construction begins this fall.
Stone has called the intersection of McKenzie Avenue and the Trans-Canada Highway “the No. 1 bottleneck outside the Lower Mainland.”
“This project will lower commute times, make travel safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers and improve air quality by getting rid of idling traffic,” he said in statement.
The plan includes an environmental strategy to reduce impacts from construction within the project limits as well as Cuthbert Holmes Park.
The ministry will add trees, shrubs and other plantings, address storm water with new drainage, and construct a new trail along the north side of the park, with native trees to buffer highway noise.
Brenda Weathston said she is “heartbroken” at the cloverleaf design, disappointed that the Saanich request was so quickly dismissed, and “saddened that we were not shown the environmental impact until after they announced their choice.”
Jim Anderson, who sat on the Saanich parks and recreation committee for 15 years, said concerns about the impact on the park have been “overstated.” He said he sees “a big improvement in the management of storm-water” under the project’s design. All road drainage will be targeted to a stormwater pond and will undergo biofiltration before heading for Portage Inlet, said ministry district manager Janelle Erwin. Pond plants will break down oil and absorb heavy metals from traffic.
Saanich Coun. Fred Haynes said he was pleased that large graphics at the open house show improved green space around the road works and said the cloverleaf had been lowered by several metres. “This was good to see.”
But neighbourhood resident Allan Hyggen worried the overhead cloverleaf will ramp up the noise, and won’t be all that far above park users. “What it will do is dramatically disrupt the park.”
Larry Layne expressed concern that the three schools — Marigold, Spectrum and St. Joseph’s — located along Burnside Road will require a lot of turns by drivers dropping off students, leading to backups, something Erwin said is not expected to happen. Traffic is expected to move “fluidly and with less congestion,” she said.
Layne also worried about an increased number of schoolchildren using the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, calling for a way to separate pedestrians from cyclists.
Currently just under four metres wide, the Goose will be widened to between five and six metres. A decision on whether to separate pedestrians from cyclists has not been made.
The ministry will collect online feedback forms until June 10. The project team will also continue to receive feedback with additional meetings.
For more information, go to engage.gov.bc.ca/mckenzie interchange.
