To the Editor,
Re: Malahat requires zero tolerance, Letters, Oct. 27.
I have driven the Malahat thousands of times in the past.
The thing that intimidates me the most is passing tandem fuel trucks or other similar tractor trailers. In wet conditions these trucks can cause visibility problems and accidents that have no apparent or mysterious causes.
One thing that nobody has talked about is the fact that Victoria no longer has a tank farm (fuel depot). The lower Island has also run out of construction aggregates such as gravel. The E&N Island corridor does not allow for full-load or full-speed industrial rail traffic. These facts have forced unreasonable amounts of truck traffic onto the Malahat.
The partial answer to solving the dangerous Malahat Drive is to decrease industrial traffic. The E&N railway should be repaired to industrial standards to meet the increasing need to move heavy loads into Victoria.
The Washington Group owns the Southern Vancouver Island Railway and should be participating in developing the Island corridor as an industrial railway asset. Dennis Washington has an estimated current net worth of around $4.2 billion and is one of the wisest industrialists on the planet.
We should be asking for his opinion and involvement in solving the Vancouver Island industrial problem.
Fix the railway properly. Don’t put the Band-Aid on the broken leg.
Matt James
Nanaimo