Highway 4 in bad shape near Grove
To the Editor,
I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed the sinking roadway on Highway 4 coming into Port Alberni, on the other side of Cathedral Grove.
It’s in an area where last year orange cones were put out identifying the dips and the puddles. More fill was put in and covered but that hasn’t fixed the problem. Coming home late one Saturday afternoon and doing less than the speed limit due to really bad weather conditions, I hit those holes. They were full of so much water that my van got drenched up and over the passenger side and roof and across my windshield, making it difficult to see. Thankfully I didn’t hydroplane.
If this was the Sea to Sky highway on the way to Whistler, these holes would be fixed.
I believe the ground underneath where we can’t see is being eroded and one day that whole side of the road will just either sink into the bottomless pit or cascade down the embankment, taking everything in its path with it and that will be that.
So my questions are how long do we have to wait for the road to be fixed properly? Will an engineer be sent to ensure that the road isn’t being eroded from underneath and we can all travel knowing that we are safer?
It truly is time for a new highway.
Carole Walker,
Port Alberni
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Logging, recreation clash again
To the Editor,
Island Timberlands is destroying the historic CPR Trail that has led hikers and explorers up from Cameron Lake to Mount Arrowsmith for more than a century.
A number of trails have been logged including the lower Rosseau Trail from the back of Cathedral Grove, the Judges Route, Lost Gully, Judy’s Meadows, Mount Moriarty, and Labor Day lake trails.
Island Timberlands is sending a message to Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve communities that their only interest is leaving clear-cuts behind, and that they are not interested in the future recreation opportunities this mountain is known for. What kind of a company does this?
Wes Klassen,
Qualicum Beach