Cranberry Rd., which later becomes Extension Rd. is the only real access point into the growing Cinnabar Valley and Extension neighbourhoods. (Google Maps)

By Alex Rawnsley

TOUGH QUESTIONS

Access, traffic volumes and mobility among key questions for south Nanaimo neighbourhoods

Nov 8, 2021 | 4:36 PM

NANAIMO — Long-standing and growing accessibility issues in the Chase River, Cinnabar Valley and Extension neighbourhoods are under the microscope.

The City of Nanaimo is looking at any and all solutions to improve how residents and visitors access a growing area of the city.

Jamie Rose, city manager of transportation, told councillors around three to four per cent of Nanaimo’s population lives west of the Trans Canada Hwy. and south of the Nanaimo Parkway with only one significant access point to the rest of the region which can be easily cut off.

“This particular area may not have the highest collision rate but whenever there is a collision, the entire community has to experience it, so it is a significant frustration to them.”

Data from the City suggested crash rates at the Cranberry Rd, Tenth St./Maki Rd. and Cedar Rd. intersections with the Trans Canada Hwy. were among the highest in Nanaimo.

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Measured in collisions per million entering vehicles (MEV), Cedar. Rd saw 2.7 collisions, Tenth St./Maki Rd. 2.3 and Cranberry Rd. at 1.7.

Bowen Rd. and Northfield Rd. had the highest collision rate of the listed intersections at 3.3 per MEV.

Over the last 50 years, the neighbourhoods in question have grown to feature over 1,300 homes.

The issue facing current residents and future development is the area has limited access points, namely Extension Rd.

Surveys have suggested upwards of 12,000 vehicles a day travel along the corridor, with future development expected to increase trips by 50 to 60 per cent.

What the City will do about the situation remains up in the air, with any increase in access likely causing an increase in traffic along the already stretched-thin corridors.

Rose presented several, very preliminary options including on and off ramps linking McKeown Rd. with the Nanaimo Parkway, providing a relief point for southbound travellers.

Any development would require multiple partners to come together, with the City needing to partner with at least the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI).

All three major intersections in the Chase River, Cinnabar Valley area are controlled by the MOTI.

“Once we have a conclusive land use, it takes one of the variables out of our equation,” Rose said. “We just need to work with all of the players to make sure the solutions that come out of that meet the expectations of the community.”

Residents in the area are growing restless.

Two spoke as delegations at the Monday, Nov. 8 meeting with both saying there needed to be a solution put forward immediately to rectify a long-term issue which isn’t getting better.

“We need action now, we don’t need studies, we don’t need maps,” Dale Porter said. “We need solid plan, solid action because tomorrow it’s going to get more expensive and the day after that, more expensive.”

Porter added current and future daycare spaces in the neighbourhood bring in vehicles from outside the surrounding area, adding to the congestion and stress on area roads.

Mike Parker, chair of the Chase River Community Association, requested the City again investigate using a segment of the E&N Railway and a linked underpass of the Nanaimo Parkway.

“That railway is presently used sparingly at best and if pavement was added, it could allow for safe traffic between Extension Rd. and Tenth St.”

Parker said the association presented the idea of a road in the same area of the rail line in 1995 at a cost of $1.1 million. The pitch was turned down.

He estimated the cost now for a similar two-lane road would be 20 to 30 times the initial cost.

Should another study be commissioned, it would cost around $350,000 to be split between the City and MOTI, plus any additional cost and time for land use studies of the affected areas.

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alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley