Meeting with MOT on Highway 14

On Monday the 21st of Sept, I met with Wayne Jentsch, the project manager for the paving project on Hwy 14, Dave Edgar, a Transportation Planning Engineer with MOT, and Al Fontes, Director of Engineering for Sooke. We looked at various parts of the highway and discussed different possibilities. It looks very good for getting good shoulders frome Charters Road to around Woodlands drive, just past Sassenos. Also the dangerous little asphalt berms on the side of the road will be removed! The budget is limited of course but Wayne intends to help make it stretch out as far as possible to help make the highway safer. We discussed ways of making the crossing by Coopers Coves/The Fuse, safer and easier to cross. I also discussed the possibility of putting up guard rails on the Sooke River bridge, which along with the re-paving and widening of shoulders would essentially give us a connection from the Galloping Goose Trail to Sooke in a relatively short time. Sooke has, from my understanding set aside funding, along with the CRD to assess the options for a second river crossing as a pedestrian, cyclist and emergency route. This in my mind is still the best way to go in the long term and crucial for many reasons. The route using the existing bridge can give us a safer crossing for pedestrians and cyclists very soon (hopefully within a year) for very little cost, and allows tourists easier access to the town from the Goose! I have not discussed this yet with the Mayor and council, but I trust they will be receptive to the idea.