Connector street residents seeking ‘local traffic only’ sign
Taking her golden retriever for a walk is a bit tricky for Prospect Place resident Jean Haley.
And it’s not just because both she and her dog are recuperating from surgery. It’s because of the speed and volume of traffic travelling along the street, which runs off the east end of Oak Bay Avenue.
“I walk on the lawns as much as possible because of the speed cars go, especially down the hill,” Haley said of her street, which has no sidewalks.
At mid-morning last Thursday, cars pass by about every 30 seconds.
Although most motorists travelling south on a flat stretch from Beach Drive along San Carlos Avenue slow down for potholes on Prospect Place, northbound vehicles heading downhill from Oak Bay Avenue approach at what seem like alarming speeds.
San Carlos resident Derick Woods says too many motorists are using the two narrow streets as a shortcut.
“They shouldn’t be using this to get from Oak Bay Avenue to Beach Drive, that’s my view,” he said.
Woods said he has no problem with early-morning and mid-afternoon traffic coming to and from Glenlyon Norfolk school on Beach Drive.
“You move in close to a school, you live with it,” he said.
The stream of traffic is an all-day thing, he said. Motorists should use Newport Avenue and Windsor Road to connect between the two thoroughfares, he said. He’d also like ‘local traffic only’ signs installed at both ends of Prospect Place.
Oak Bay engineering director Dave Marshall sees it differently, given it has been raised several times in the past 10 years.
When Woods appeared before council April 18 to ask for signage, Marshall presented a study showing most drivers on San Carlos travel under the posted limit of 30 km/h. As well, a volume study counted 440 vehicles a day on San Carlos. Mountjoy Avenue, which has no sidewalks and is classified as a local road, sees 1,106 cars a day.
After Woods emphasized the need for a traffic study at the upper end of Prospect Place and not on the relatively flat section of San Carlos, Marshall protested.
“That would be three times in three years.”
Coun. John Herbert asked Marshall to “humour (me) and do it one more time.” Fellow councillors agreed. Traffic counters will be placed on the street within the next month.
vmoreau@oakbaynews.com