Residents in the Esquimalt Lagoon area won’t be seeing any traffic calming measures anytime soon after a recent survey did not garner enough support.
In July, a survey was delivered to 503 homes on streets below Metchosin Road, between Gratton Road and Royal Roads, asking about making changes, such as speed humps on Ocean Boulevard, Lagoon Road and Milburn Drive. But of the 503 surveys that were delivered 209 – or 42 per cent –were returned.
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Of the surveys that were returned, 60 per cent of respondents were in favour of installing speed humps along Ocean Boulevard, 61 per cent were in favour of installing speed humps on Lagoon Road and Milburn Drive, and 48 per cent were in favour of closing a portion of Hatley Drive at Passage Way. However, those percentages were short of the 75 per cent support needed to implement the measures, according to the City’s traffic calming policy.
“The [City’s traffic calming] policy stipulates that for an initiative to go ahead, at least 50 per cent of the surveys delivered must be returned, as an indicator that the issue is important to the majority of residents,” said a release from the City. “Further, of those surveys returned, at least 75 per cent must be in favour of the proposed traffic calming measures. In this case, neither of those thresholds was met.”
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Speeding has been an issue on Milburn Drive, Lagoon Road and Ocean Boulevard for some time. Many long-time residents say commuters use the area as a short cut to avoid Metchosin Road – some going anywhere from 10 to 40 kilometres over the posted 40 km/hr speed limit.
Milburn Drive resident Cynthia Albers, who filled out the survey and returned it, said she isn’t surprised by the results.
“I’m not surprised that the survey didn’t go as we hoped. They sent it out in July, the beginning of summer,” she said. “What do you do? It is what it is. Things will get worse. Let the cards fall where they may.”