Ucluelet’s south-side residents are praising their elected officials for listening to their concerns and completing a new walkway that links their neck of the woods to the rest of town.
The roughly 240-metre-long, two-metre-wide, paved walkway connects a previously sidewalkless stretch of Peninsula Road between Coast Guard Road and He-Tin-Kis Park, as well as an established sidewalk on the other side of He-Tin-Kis that spans the rest of town, including both schools.
Southern residents had urged the district to consider installing the walkway because, they believed, having no sidewalk on the narrow and winding stretch of Peninsula Road put their children in harm’s way while walking, biking or skateboarding to school.
“Everybody was on the street and the street was narrow,” said area resident Rina Vigneault. “It was scary sometimes,”
Robin Myck, who served as the neighbourhood’s voice during the district’s budget discussions and urged Ucluelet’s municipal council to create the walkway, was thrilled with the finished result.
“This is a great thing for both the locals and the tourists,” she said. “The greatest thing that I’ve seen is a mom training a kid how to ride a bike. I’ve seen people walking their dog. I’ve seen strollers. I’ve seen bikes. It’s been great for the community.”
Area resident Mike Rhodes said the walkway exceeded the neighbourhood’s expectations.
“They went above and beyond,” Rhodes said. “This thing is fantastic.”
He added that the project included three new streetlights.
“Now we don’t have to go down a pitch black dark skinny road,” he said.
Ucluelet mayor Dianne St. Jacques said the district is “feeling really good about the pathway,” and touted the finished result as a “terrific” addition to the community.
“The main driver was the safety of our children and community members and visitors too that walk along the side of the road there. It was very narrow and very dangerous and I think everyone pretty much agreed on that,” she said. “We certainly appreciate the support of the community members down at the edge and their patience as they waited until we were able to get it complete.”
She added that, along with youth living on the district’s south-end, the walkway was also needed to seperate Wild Pacific Trail users from vehicle traffic as they navigated their way from He-Tin-Kis Park’s trailhead to the WPT’s popular Lighthouse Loop at the end of Coast Guard Road.
“We just had to get that pathway done. There was no question about it and we needed to do everything we could to get it in place,” she said.
She said communication between the district and residents was key to ensure the final result was what the community had envisioned.
“There were concerns when we started out and we walked the area group from the neighbourhood making sure if we’re going to put tax dollars into an investment like that that we do it properly and have everybody onside with the project and with the results,” she said. “It was a learning experience, and it always is when you do these types of projects…Everybody listened and everybody worked together.”