They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Or, in this case, an eight-foot-wide, black asphalt highway where a nice and soft walking trail used to be.
I speak of the trail that runs between Laburnum Road and Canyon Crescent, paralleling the railroad.
I, and countless others, have been waiting eagerly for this trail to be reopened after it was closed over the summer to facilitate the installation of a drainage system for the new housing development at the top of Laburnum hill.
Well, the trail has finally re-opened, and it’s a black asphalt nightmare from side to side and end to end.
There are 12-inch, pea-gravel shoulders on either side of the asphalt, so that’s where I walked, heel to toe, one recent morning. Mine were not the first footsteps seeking refuge on the soft gravel and doubtless will not be the last.
My question to the Town of Qualicum Beach is: what were you thinking, that you’d be awarded accolades for providing a trail down which cyclists could ride four abreast?
Not to mention that this wide swath of pavement is just an open invitation to motorized vehicles ridden by people who don’t give a rat’s behind about your wee sign that forbids such activities.
On the other side of Qualicum Beach, between town and Bennett Road, both paved cycling and walking trails co-exist wonderfully side by side.
On the trail between Laburnum Road and Canyon Crescent, there has clearly been no thought given to or provision made for people who actually walk from point A to point B and like to do so on a soft surface.
The unthinking bureaucrats have absolutely ruined this trail for walkers in Qualicum Beach.
I would invite anyone who walks this trail and feels the same way to request of town hall that a solution be found and a compromise reached immediately.
Lenore Leitch
Qualicum Beach