Thank you for your support for the drive to dissuade the Ministry of Transportation and Transport (MOTT) from using Dicken Road as a detour route during the construction of a bridge over Hartley Creek

The petition is now closed. We received a whopping 1096 verified signatures.

The RDEK is also sending a letter to MOTT in opposition to the Dicken Road detour plan.

This petition will help, but a letter from you will reinforce your support and add considerable weight to the effort. You can use your own wording, or copy and paste the wording suggested toward the end of this email.

Send your emails or letters to:

PETE DAVIS

MLA 

Kootenay-Rockies

#302 - 535 Victoria Avenue N

Cranbrook, BC

V1C 6S3

Pete.Davis.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Copies should be sent to:

Mike Farnworth

Minister of Transportation and Transit 

Box 9055

Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC

V8W 9E2

mike.Farnworth.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Heather Wood

Deputy Minister of Transportation and Transit 

Box 9055

Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC

V8W 9E2

DeputyMinister.Transportation@gov.bc.ca

Hilary Barnett

District Manager

BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit 

Rocky Mountain District

129 - 10th Avenue South

Cranbrook, BC 

V1C 2N1

250-420-6550

Hilary.Barnett@gov.bc.ca

The following is a suggestion for the body of your letters. You can modify this as you like or use it as is:

Dear Mr. Davis

The Ministry of Transportation and Transit plans to use Dicken Road as a detour route from Hwy 3 during the construction of a bridge over Hartley Creek beginning in May of this year. The project is expected to take six months.

I respectively ask that you advocate on behalf of the businesses, residents, and all highway users, that the Ministry abandon this detour plan and instead build a proper bypass around the construction site for the following reasons:

 Safety
Dicken Road is a rural residential road, not designed to accommodate the traffic volumes of Highway 3.

Dicken Road has:

Numerous school bus pick up and drop off locations
38 private and commercial driveways
8 mobile home park accesses serving 84 mobile homes
6 multifamily and industrial subdivision entrances
8 commercial or secondary road intersections
2 Canada Post community mailbox locations
two stop signs
The road has no paved shoulders, no turning lanes and limited separation between vehicles and vulnerable road users.

Pedestrians, cyclists, equestrian riders and slow moving agricultural equipment regularly use this route.  Introducing sustained highway traffic into this environment would significantly increase the risk of collisions for both motorists and local residents.

Frequent turning movements into driveways and businesses along this lengthy detour will also interrupt traffic flow and increase the potential for driver frustration and unsafe behaviour.

 Traffic congestion
Highway 3 is one of the primary east – west transportation corridors in southern British Columbia, carrying heavy personal, visitor and commercial traffic, particularly during the summer months.

Even under normal conditions, traffic congestion and full on grid lock approaching Fernie is common during peak travel periods. Diverting highway traffic onto a rural residential road with numerous access points and reduced speeds will significantly worsen delays, reducing the reliability of this important transportation route.

This will affect not only local residents and businesses, but also commercial transport, people commuting to work, tourism traffic and regional connectivity across southeastern British Columbia.

 The proposed detour would place a significant and sustained burden on residents and businesses located along Dicken Road, who rely on safe and predictable access to their homes and workplaces.

Local traffic attempting to enter or exit properties will be forced to compete with continuous highway traffic for extended periods each day. This would disrupt normal community use of the road and negatively affect the quality of life for those who live and work in the area.

I expect that a formal request from your office to the decision makers will be effective in helping to ensure that a more reasonable solution is found to divert traffic for this project.

Thank you for your help with this.  

Sincerely,