The replacement of the Craigflower Bridge on Admirals Road seems to have been approved without a formal approval process, and without any consultation with the community that will be most affected by the project.

This project is being treated quite differently than another significant development in Saanich, the seven-level parkade proposed by the University of Victoria. The university has been told to return to the community for a proper consultation process.

With the proposed parkade, the community will have a chance to raise some of the bigger issues around the economic engine of the university and how growth is negatively affecting the broader community.

This kind of discussion is needed in any neighbourhood that will see significant a change resulting from development. It is important to understand both the positive and negative impacts in a clear, transparent manner.

The new Craigflower Bridge is being designed to be twice the size of the existing bridge, with three vehicle lanes. It is to last 75 to 100 years, yet the main transportation concern for Saanich engineers seems to be how to increase vehicle capacity on the bridge for peak periods each day.

Yes, we have seen some consideration of the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure for the bridge and surrounding area, but the impact of traffic on the neighbourhood has not been given more than a cursory examination.

A recent traffic count for the intersection of Admirals and Gorge roads found that the average speeds through both a school zone and public park were 44 km/h during school times. Last year, a school crossing guard was struck by a car driven by someone who turned left onto Gorge Road while the guard was in the marked crosswalk.

At the highway end of Admirals, the new bridge over Colquitz Creek has been so overbuilt that large trucks and other vehicles now travel at 60 km/h or more, where before they could barely do 30. This results in traffic speeding along the rest of Admirals, despite that fact that there are close to 100 driveways and numerous intersections accessing that road.

How would you feel if you were walking or cycling on a neighbourhood route with numerous large cement trucks barrelling by within a metre?

Gorge from Admirals to Tillicum and beyond is parallel to the wonderful Gorge Waterway Park. It has a dozen street intersections, seven bus stops on each side of the road and only two formal pedestrian crosswalks.

This is clearly a people place, yet it seems like we are always under restrictions caused by cars speeding through the neighbourhood to get somewhere else.

With the planned bridge expansion and Craigflower speeds set to 40 km/h, we envision even more of this conflict as cut-through drivers use Gorge at 50 km/h or more.

We have been told that we cannot reduce speed limits on these roads, but I would argue that speed limits must be reduced to maintain the quality of life that we invested in when we settled in this community.

As our property values go down because of unnecessary speeding traffic, Saanich loses again.

The Gorge Tillicum community understands the need for this infrastructure investment. We are concerned about the size of the new bridge, given what appears to be a hidden agenda for future expansion of the road.

We are concerned about the speeds that vehicles reach as they travel through our neighbourhood. We are concerned that nothing is being done to reduce the number of vehicles using this route. And finally, we are concerned that no one is considering a future where the Capital Regional District's strategy of reducing the impacts of the single-occupancy vehicles is realized.

This Admirals route is a gateway to Saanich, but is barely noticeable as anything but poorly laid out pedestrian, cycling and automobile space. The design must consider many other impacts and possibilities beyond additional car lanes for peak-hour capacity for single-occupancy vehicles.

Therefore, similar to the UVic situation, we are asking Saanich council to show respect for our neighbourhood and seek an independent examination of the concerns we have regarding impacts from this significant increase in transportation infrastructure.

Rob Wickson is president of the Gorge Tillicum Community Association.