Re: “Community leader fears fallout of new McKenzie interchange,” April 26.
I challenge Rob Wickson’s alarmism about the impact of a cloverleaf interchange on Cuthbert Holmes Park.
Much of the affected corner of the park is an old housing area that was cleared to build the freeway. The fruit trees are being supplanted by other vegetation, as is normal when an orchard is not maintained. That area is not officially in the park — it is owned by B.C., not Saanich, so is used with permission. Most of the rest of the park is heavily treed. As for large trees, I see only a few scraggly ones near the intersection. Seeds from Douglas fir will supplant most other vegetation.
Eco-alarmists have misrepresented the grove of trees in the populus family near the main entrance (they are not trembling aspen), herons (they prefer Beacon Hill Park) and the open areas (former crop fields). They try to use preservation of the results of human activity to block other human activity.
Wickson does raise a good point about the risk of tanker spills due to speeding truck drivers, but can oil traps be built into the road? (Local entrepreneurs claim to have such technology.)
A cloverleaf should be banked, but entry for right turn from Admirals Road to the Trans-Canada Highway eastbound might complicate the situation. Drainage has to be designed well anyway, and there are indications that current drainage either was not or has deteriorated.
Keith Sketchley
Saanich
