To the editor,
Re: $1.4 million more approved for Metral Drive, July 27.
I don’t much like the changes to the city’s Metral Drive. However, after the City of Nanaimo has spent several million dollars on it, I expect I will eventually get used to it – just as I have to the changes on Front Street and the changes on Bowen Road.
Metral wasn’t the prettiest road in town but it seemed to function reasonably well. I do wonder how it was chosen for upgrading when there are several roads in town that lack curbs and/or sidewalks, have ditches for roadside drainage, where access to adjacent properties can be chaotic at best and downright dangerous at worst, have bus routes, and lots of traffic, including pedestrians. I think of roads like: Northfield east of Bowen, stretches of Departure Bay and Hammond Bay, Uplands east of Rutherford, pretty much the entire length of Pine/Park, and numerous other roads.
Obviously the city can’t redo all these streets at once, but surely there must be some kind of rational priorization method in place? Surely the city is more concerned with a smooth-functioning roadway system that places a higher value on safety and ease of movement than on winning awards? Surely?
Kenn Hample, Nanaimo
READ ALSO: Re-aligned intersections meant to ‘change the character’ of Nanaimo’s Metral Drive
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