On the potential closure of Richardson Street at Foul Bay Road
Over the last few days my office has received a number of emails concerning the City of Victoria’s proposed closure of Richardson Street at its junction with Foul Bay Road. The stated goal for this closure is to install bike lanes and limit the traffic along Richardson Street to fewer than 500 cars per day. Unfortunately, the City of Victoria has chosen not to send their proposal to the District of Oak Bay for comment. In my view, this is unacceptable since Victoria is surrounded by neighbouring communities and any traffic flow changes have significant concomitant regional consequences. It’s particularly troubling as Foul Bay Road represents the boundary between Oak Bay and Victoria.
Below I reproduce a letter I sent today to Victoria Council expressing my concerns regarding their lack of consultation.
Text of Letter
Dear Mayor and Council of the City of Victoria,
I am writing to you to express my profound concern regarding your proposed forthcoming developments for Richardson Street at the Foul Bay junction. As you will know, the junction where Richardson Street meets Foul Bay resides squarely in the riding of Oak Bay Gordon Head which I represent.
I understand that Council has unilaterally decided that it wishes to restrict traffic to only 500 cars per day along Richardson Road without consulting with the District of Oak Bay. To meet this arbitrary target, council decided to close off Richardson Street at Foul Bay and hence only allow bike traffic through the intersection.
Richardson Road is one of only two main roads that connect south Oak Bay (where a substantial number of civil servants live) and downtown Victoria. While I applaud your efforts to create more biking infrastructure for the City of Victoria, I remind you that Victoria is surrounded by neighbouring communities and any traffic flow changes have significant concomitant regional consequences. In addition, for many people living in south Oak Bay, cycling is not an option. In my view, it is not appropriate for your council to proceed with this project without formally referring this proposal to the District of Oak Bay for comment.
As you will also know, Oak Bay is planning to expand their active transportation infrastructure. They are in the midst of ongoing consultation and planning. It strikes me as both a missed opportunity and inappropriate for you not to consult with them on your plans. My recommendation to government is that provincial funding requests for the Richardson Corridor project not be considered until such time as said consultation is completed.
I am not sure what, if any, regional traffic flow modelling your council has done on the proposed closure of this intersection. Nevertheless, as someone who was born and grew up in Victoria, I would suggest that all that this will do is divert traffic from South Oak Bay to Fairfield Road. This will greatly increase traffic on side streets throughout the area. As you know, Fairfield Road passes two elementary schools: Margaret Jenkins and Sir James Douglas. This substantially increased traffic flow on Fairfield Road presents a very real, increased danger to the elementary school students. In addition, the substantially increased traffic on the side streets also presents a very real, increased danger to children. Fairfield Road also meanders by Ross Bay Cemetery, Fairfield Plaza and Hollywood Park. In many places, it is very narrow and very busy. Richardson Road, on the other hand, could easily handle separated bike lanes.
I recognize that Victoria Council might counter that they expect traffic to come along Oak Bay Avenue instead. I would suggest that this is certainly not a given as Oak Bay Council is presently exploring traffic options in the Oak Bay Village to make it more pedestrian friendly. In essence, this is precisely why consultation with neighbouring communities is imperative.
Thank you in advance for considering this request that you enter into consultation with the District of Oak Bay in advance of proceeding with the closure of Richardson Road at Foul Bay.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Weaver
MLA Oak Bay-Gordon Head
Cc BC Minister of Transportation (minister.transportation@gov.bc.ca)
BC Minister of Environment (env.minister@gov.bc.ca)
BC Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (mah.minister@gov.bc.ca)
Oak Bay Mayor and Council (mayor@oakbay.ca, obcouncil@oakbay.ca)
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16 Comments
Thank you Mr. Weaver for standing up for the municipality of Oak Bay. My wife and I are both cyclist but can see no appropriate reason for the financing of this Richardson Corridor. The street is just fine as it is. Victoria Council’s reasons seem to be more about completing a vanity project without the consent of the majority of their own taxpayers nor the consent of neighbouring municipalities. This is outright bullying and should be stopped if Oak bay Council does not consent to the corridor’s creation. Any environmental concerns Victoria Council is flittering about are just a flimsy window dressing for their actions. Good Luck!
Maureen Jones-Reply. A found poem
July 20, 2020 at 6:51 pm
We have lived on Richardson St. for forty years.
I can’t see how this plan is ever going to work.
If left turns are disallowed from Cook onto Richardson,
not sure how we’ll even get home
as that’s where our driveway is.
Probably will turn up McClure then onto Linden. There’s no way we’re going to attempt a left turn onto Fairfield,
then a left turn onto, say Linden, then
yet another left turn onto Richardson (which is very dangerous).
We won’t be going up to use Fairfield, but most likely use
Rockland, then the sidestreets there.
To get to Oak Bay, we’ll probably go up Cowichan
to Quamichan, then to Foul Bay, then to McNeill.
Whwn I used to come,to Victoria, I hung out there,( tag heatherWeinrich@) and all the street names are evocative. I loved reading this as a found poem. Council(s) should visit Denmark to check out bike vs car traffic.
Thank you Andrew Weaver. This plan is outrageous and not well thought out at all. Victoria City Council are making MANY decisions regarding traffic that are forcing vehicles onto a few roads and affecting many who regularly travel between Oak Bay and Victoria.
There is also a plan in the works to close off the upper third of Gonzales Road from Richmond to Rocklsnd that would mean many vehicles, including emergency vehicles would have to reroute to Oak Bay Avenue or Richardson or Fairfield Roads.
Time to stop the madness!
As a former resident of Richardson St, our family home was at the Maddison / Richardson merger, opposite NHS. We lived there 36 years and had to contend with the enormous amount of traffic from parents dropping off and picking up their kids. Not to mention the very large School buses. It doesnt appear as though anyone has addressed this issue. If Richardson is closed and forces parents and buses to use Quamichan St, I can guarantee it will be a nightmare! I hope funding is not approved for this poorly thought out bike plan.
We have lived on Richardson St. for forty years. I can’t see how this plan is ever going to work. If left turns are disallowed from Cook onto Richardson, not sure how we’ll even get home as that’s where our driveway is. Probably will turn up McClure then onto Linden. There’s no way we’re going to attempt a left turn onto Fairfield, then a left turn onto, say Linden, then yet another left turn onto Richardson (which is very dangerous). We won’t be going up to use Fairfield, but most likely use Rockland, then the sidestreets there. To get to Oak Bay, we’ll probably go up Cowichan to Quamichan, then to Foul Bay, then to McNeill. Hope residents on all these side streets are ready!
For those of us living just off of Fairfield Road we are very concerned about the increased traffic. Crossing Fairfield from our neighbourhood (Gonzales) by bike or car, could potentially become even more hazardous. My understanding is the City if Victoria won’t be looking into extra safety, speed reduction until a year after Richardson Road is closed off.
Thank you, Andrew. I agree with all of your comments.
Before I retired, I cycled along Richardson for many years. The only thing making Richardson dangerous for cyclists is the cars parked on both sides of the road.
Instead of Andrew Weaver publicly lambasting the City of Victoria for what he feels is a burden on Oak Bay why didn’t he pick up the phone and broker a discussion between the 2 municipalities? The biggest culprit here are the 13 different fiefdoms that establish hard boundaries that naturally lead to silo-ism.
Your letter does not represent the views of many living in Oak Bay. We support the infrastructure improvements made in Victoria, which we all enjoy. Oak Bay has been stalling on an active transportation plan for years. Instead of attempting to thwart plans for improvements, let’s have residents of OB pony up $ for the bridges that they use in Victoria, & other infrastructure, before they start complaining about what other municipalites do.
The Richardson corridor will be a success, and OB vehicles will adjust.
Thank you for the comments. I actually love the biking infrastructure in our community. That is not the issue. The issue is one municipality unilaterally making a decision that could potentially have profound effects on another without consultation with their elected representatives. It’s rather absurd that there is no regional approach to bike lanes. Please read my letter in its entirety.
Hi Andrew,
I am a constituent living in SE Saanich near the RJH and support the City of Victoria’s (COV) Richardson Street Corridor project. Richardson is a my preferred bike commuter route into James Bay and the legislative precinct. I fully agree with Lesley’s comments. Oak Bay has been stalling on an active transportation plan for many years.
The COV’s proposal did not just pop of out of nowhere all of a sudden. Richardson as a key cycling route is identified in the COV’s original Bicycle Master Plan (1995), the CRD’s Pedestrian & Cycling Master Plan (2011) and the COV’s Bicycle Master Plan Update (2015). Staff-level discussions have been ongoing for many years. The route is identified in Oak Bay’s own Active Transportation Strategy (2011). In fact, Oak Bay’s Strategy (page 19) specifically acknowledges the COV’s intent to develop Richardson as a future bikeway and identifies McNeill Avenue in Oak Bay as an important connecting Commuter route.
The COV’s public engagement process was open to all residents of the CRD. Oak Bay also declared a climate emergency and the need for action in April 2019.
The more important question you should be asking is what is Oak Bay Council doing to deliver on its existing active transportation strategy and OCP transportation policy commitments? And how is it expanding it’s limited cycling infrastructure to align with and complement the plans of neighbouring municipalities and the region.
Thank you Andrew Weaver for your strong, much-appreciated voice.
It is unfortunate that so much effort must be expended to make sure Victoria City Council listens to the public. I could not agree more with the points Andrew Weaver makes about already busy, often congested Fairfield Road, the two large elementary schools, shopping plaza, gas station and park. The neighborhood side streets are already hazardous for the many young families who live there.
Mr. Weaver. There are many factual errors in what you say and many assumptions you make which are not supported by evidence or real experience.
Just one… richardson is far far too narrow for separated bike lanes which has lead to the proposed design second the proposal does not call for less than 500 vehicle movements a day but 500 to 1000.
The closing of Richardson St is ridiculous. We don’t need any bike lanes either. There are very few cyclists and it is very easy for cars to pass them. All the closure of Richardson to through traffic will do is put more traffic on very narrow side streets. Restricting left turns off Cook onto Richardson will just force people onto side streets to get home. This is just one more example of how this mayor and the majority of council with the exception of Geoff Young refuse to listen to the majority of the population in Victoria. The council just does want they want which is obvious with the lack of consultation with Oak Bay
Thank you Mr Weaver, Victoria Council will not listen to the Taxpayer of this city, hopefully they will pay attention to you.