Residents are raising concerns over the volume and speed of traffic along Rockland Avenue.
The speed limit is 30km/h but is exceeded by many drivers who take this route.
“There’s always been ongoing concern about the speed of traffic on both Rockland Avenue and on the side streets, particularly St. Charles and Pemberton,” says Bob June with the Rockland Neighborhood Association.
But, neighbors say the situation has gotten worse.
In April, Victoria city council voted to continue the Richardson Street bikeway plan, reducing traffic there from roughly 2,800 to 3,800 trips per day to around 500 to 1,000 trips.
The city reasoned that this gave cyclists a safer and easier connecter route from Oak Bay to downtown.
“There’s a lot of people there that really want to bike and what we’ve heard multiple times is that this is an exciting prospect that is coming,” says Corey Burger with Capital Bike.
But since then, traffic has been diverted to Rockland Avenue — a narrow and winding road.
“They say this is a secondary collector road, I’m not totally sure what that means but I think it’s becoming a primary collector, along with Fairfield now and I just think that’s unreasonable for what the road, the shape of it, the flow of it, the amount of volume on it, for people walking,” says Dana Miller, a Rockland resident.
Neighbours say the city needs to start enforcing the speed limit or have stop signs or speed bumps installed before someone gets seriously hurt. They say no one has heard anything from the city after expressing their concerns.
“I think it’s time someone come to the community and hear what we’re saying, they get out here and see it,” says Miller. Adding, “I don’t even know who our rep is, they’re non-existent right now as far as I’m concerned and I think council needs to listen to us.”
In a statement to CHEK News, the city says volume and speed are being monitored in the area and one way it’s addressing the problem is with the recent installment of the speed reader board.
The city is also planning to add more traffic calming measures this fall, what exactly that entails, the city did not say.
Hannah Lepine
