Re: 鈥�$85M in upgrades for Sooke Road, Trans-sa国际传媒,鈥� April 24.
Eighty-five million dollars is not so much money.
By comparison, the Trans-sa国际传媒 Highway through the mountains handles 20,000 or 30,000 vehicles daily, and billions of dollars have been spent upgrading it. The bridge east of Golden cost more than $130 million.
When sa国际传媒 Hydro wanted to upgrade a power transmission line to Vancouver Island through Tsawwassen, the province offered to buy all 100 houses along the line for market value. That cost $50 million or $60 million.
The province could surely pay each of the homeowners whose properties are to be expropriated $1 million for their properties, moving expenses and stress. It would add only $10 million or $15 million to the overall cost of the upgrade.
Eighty-five million dollars is a great opportunity.
At the same time as the Sooke Road improvements are being considered, there is a call for free bus passes. Eighty-five million dollars would buy nearly 300 hybrid buses, which could move nearly 20,000 people along that same road.
Removing 15,000 or 20,000 cars from the road with a free transit pass seems like a small investment.
If it didn鈥檛 work and the road was still congested, the hybrid buses could be used to replace the existing diesel buses, which should be one of the Capital Regional District鈥檚 goals anyway.
Ken Weatherill
North Saanich
