Many Sardis-area residents have endured months of frustration over the road works between Evans and the Watson Road roundabout.
As I’ve sat numerous times in traffic waiting for the traffic signal person to allow a few more feet of forward movement, I consoled myself with the fact that at least the four-lane highway along Evans would be expanded to the Watson Road roundabout. I now realized that was a pipe dream. Instead, there are extra-wide pathways both sides of the road.
I went to city hall and met with the project manager, who said that most of that section, but not all, will be three lanes; the third lane being designated a left-hand turn lane only. The extra wide pathways were for bikes and to encourage citizens to walk or take public transit.
According to the 2021 Census, 19 per cent of Chilliwack’s population is 65 years and older. This is higher than the provincial average. I asked the project manager to explain how seniors could take bikes to do their shopping, or take public transit to get to their many doctors’ appointments, when public transit hardly ever goes anywhere near doctors’ offices. She had no satisfactory answer. Apparently in their headlong rush to make Chilliwack as green as possible to get grants from Victoria, seniors are not taken into account.
Most of us have to use cars to get from A to B, as extended walking is not practical for many, and transit does not take us to where we need to go. She also said that the roadworks on Knight are to provide more protected bike lanes.
Traffic conditions in Chilliwack are getting ridiculous as more and more people move here. City hall officials must live in ivory towers if they think designated bike lanes that take away car space on roads will help. Just tell that to one-fifth of our city’s population who cannot walk or bike for more than a few minutes. I am appalled that Chilliwack seniors are such a forgotten group by city hall.
Dianne Darke
Chilliwack
