For many years I have bicycled between Oak Bay and the University of Victoria. My route, and that of many others who use it for the same journey, takes me across Lansdowne Road, up Midland Road and through the Uplands. It’s not the shortest way, but it eases the climb, avoids most of the traffic and is much more pleasing to the eye.
Midland Road is, and has been for as long as I can remember, pitted with potholes. Many of them are now large enough and deep enough to unseat an unsuspecting cyclist, especially on the more shaded parts and in clouded or fading light.
Every so often, Oak Bay public works sends someone by to wave a shovel at these hazards and scatter some loose fill, which, not surprisingly, ceases to remedy the problem in short order.
Instead of devoting costly resources to the cosmetic replacement of weathered, but perfectly viable sidewalks in the vicinity of Windsor Road, public works should remedy the state of Midland Road, before someone breaks his or her neck there.
John Money
Oak Bay