Editor, The Times;
Re: the March 26/12 headline, “Two-thirds Support Highway 5 Roundabout.”
I would like to know where 67 per cent support arrived from! I attended the March 7 open house in the afternoon and the attitude of that crowd was very much against the roundabout, with the exception of the mayor and council, and the highways department reps. When I asked the highway reps about cost, they said that information was not part of the open house. The following week, the Times reported projected costs of $1.7 to 2.2 million! What a total waste of taxpayers’ dollars! To say the cost won’t be the responsibility of the municipality but rather a provincial one is totally absurd. Who do you think pays the taxes to the province?
This roundabout idea to slow down traffic has not addressed the intersection of the Old Thompson Highway and Highway 5. What is your opinion? A second roundabout? What the heck, we’ll just raise the price of gas by three cents per liter until both roundabouts are paid for; that should take about six gazillion years!
There is a very simple way to make both intersections safe, and slow traffic: reduce the speed limit to 50 km/hr at the Kal Tire intersection and have a flashing sign there that says, “Controlled Intersections Ahead.” Install a flashing red light at Park Drive and Clearwater Valley Road, and a flashing yellow light on Highway 5 controlled by a pedestrian signal button. The speed limit should stay at 50 km/hr until you go through the second set of lights at the crossroads of the Old Thompson Highway and Highway 5. There, we are done, at about 25 per cent of the cost of one roundabout.
Maybe with all that leftover cash we could start cleaning up Dutch Lake! You can rest assured if the provincial government wants to waste tax dollars on a roundabout (which is as useful as a screen door on a submarine!), then come election time there will be at least one “Lake” cleaned up!
A previous editorial in the Times said, “Let’s circle the wagons and start shooting within.” If Clearwater needs a roundabout to circle the wagons, then it’s time to get new horses and get rid of the jackasses.
Jim Lamberton
Clearwater, B.C.