Pedestrian improvements at the Church and Throup road intersection are more than a year behind schedule, with Sooke Mayor Maja Tait “extremely dissatisifed” with the lack of progress.
The project began last summer and was to include a culvert, adding a manhole, widening the road shoulder and installing asphalt sidewalk on Church Road connecting to Throup Road.
“I’m annoyed that it’s not finished, and that we’ve been put off this year continuously, Tait said. “It should have been done a long time ago as far as I’m concerned.
“It’s frustrating for me that this is the level of service that Sooke is getting when there’s a demand for improvements in many areas.”
Last year, the project was unable to be completed due to uncooperative weather, and the same was true for this spring. However, Tait said she is unsure of what the hold up is now.
“Our staff is trying to pin down the contractor to complete the work,” Tait said. “All over the place people are behind schedule on so many different things because of the demand on trades, so we are doing our best to get it completed.”
She said it’s important to at least get lines painted because careless motorists might not pay attention to where the road is and swerve over into the pedestrian’s access point.
Teresa Sullivan, the district’s chief administrative officer, said that along with the walkable paved shoulder improvements on Grant Road and Golledge Avenie, the district is working on getting the lines at Church and Throup painted.
“We had an issue with our line painting contractor in that they have been repeatedly delayed over a span of months, so the District of Sooke has a new contractor to compete the works,” Sullivan said.
Tuff post standing delineators will be installed along the lines once they are painted.
The Church and Throup road pedestrian crossing is a major walkway for students attending Journey Middle and other area schools.