PORT ALBERNI — Challenges around traffic volumes, parking and pedestrian safety are set to continue for the foreseeable future at one of the Island’s biggest attractions.
Cathedral Grove, midway between Port Alberni and Parksville, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, but those visitors come with vehicles needing to be parked, tour buses needing to stop, and pedestrians needing to move along a narrow, two-lane highway.
Michael Pearson, Vancouver Island district director for the ministry of transportation and transit, said they are very aware of the issues along Hwy. 4, and made steps in January to mitigate some of them by installing concrete barriers along the sides of the road.
“We recognize that doesn’t solve the problem. There’s still more demand for use of the park than there is parking available. The ministry has no plans at this time to extend parking or revisit the options that we started developing back in 2018.”
Pearson made the comments during an Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District board meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
He said the barriers replaced “ineffective” no parking signs to try and limit the number of cars on the side of the road, taking up valuable space.
But it’s not a solution to the problem.
“It’s not to say we couldn’t extend the barrier further, to continue to chase the problem, so to say, we recognize it doesn’t solve the integral problem but it helps us manage the highway at least, so collectively we come up with a better solution for access.”
A lack of a firm plan to address such a longstanding issue did not sit well with board members.
Sproat Lake Area Director Penny Cote said it’s a dangerous situation, finding it “rare” to have vehicles going at or below the speed limit.
“I’m wondering what the plan is because more concrete barriers I do not believe is the answer. People are just going to keep parking further down the highway and walking on the highway, and they’re pushing baby carriers and people with disabilities. It’s easy to trip…and there’s huge trucks that are on the road.”
She counted Pearson’s claim people were walking behind the barriers, off the side of the road, suggesting her experience was the opposite, while also saying cars had no way to maneuver through the area safely.
“They’re pulling out, there’s nowhere for them to turn around if they’re coming from either Parksville side or Port Alberni, they have to go quite a long ways to turn around so they’re making bad choices and we’re not giving them any options as far as where they could turn around.”
Director Fred Boyko shared similar stories during his occasional trips through the Hwy. 4 corridor.
He said it’s common, particularly in the summer, to see people jaywalking across the highway by the outhouses, causing “so many close calls.”
“It’s getting more dangerous and it’s more so in the past year than in previous years. The barriers are not solving the problem and it’s only a matter of time until somebody doesn’t slam on their brakes for a family and we wipe out a family.”
Past initiatives to improve the situation have included the creation of more parking or an overpass in the area for traffic going through.
Most, if not all, have been determined to have an unacceptable level of environmental impact for the region.
Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District Directors said they will send a letter to every appropriate level of government and every ministry involved to make it a priority safety issue again.
— with files from David Wiwchar, 93.3 The Peak
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