Members of the Wildwood Ratepayers’ Association are asking the provincial government to improve safety on the Wildwood hill.
Last October, Susan Hainstock, writing on behalf of the association, asked the province to consider upgrading and widening this section of Highway 101 to include shoulders. The ministry did upgrade some sections of the road this spring.
Hainstock wrote again in April, thanking the ministry for the improvements, but pointing out a safety concern that was created as part of the City of Powell River’s drinking water system project.
To connect Wildwood to the city’s drinking water system, pipes were run up the Wildwood hill, resulting in a 20-metre wide logged strip that drops to the bridge below, Hainstock wrote. “As you come down the 14 per cent descent, you come across the opening in the trees. This could be mistaken for a right of way in the fog, a rainstorm or snow. If someone skids on ice, there is nothing to stop a car from going off the edge.”
Hainstock asked the ministry to install a barrier across the right of way. “Some large rocks have been placed slightly up the hill from the water line area and we are hoping that something like that might be done if a guard rail is not available,” she wrote. In the meantime, residents have put up flagging tape as a warning to drivers coming down the hill.
City council agreed with the request and passed a motion at the April 21 meeting to send a letter to the ministry of transportation and infrastructure supporting the association’s concerns.
