Park Gates are being installed on each end of the lagoon on Ocean Boulevard in Colwood to help public works crews and emergency responders quickly and safely close the area to traffic during winter storms or in the event of an emergency.
The City of Colwood website says strong winter storms and high tides have the ability to send waves, logs and debris onto Ocean Boulevard, creating a need for the road to be closed temporarily to “maintain safety and allow for clean-up and repairs.”
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December’s windstorm, which knocked out power to over 60,000 customers in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast and on Vancouver Island, also knocked several trees onto roads and sent waves crashing into beaches, docks and roadways along the water.
There was one report of an Ocean Boulevard road closure as a tree fell over onto the road near the Fort Rodd Hill turnoff.
Reports of Ocean Boulevard road closure. Here's a photo of a tree down on Ocean Boulevard near the Fort Rodd Hill turnoff. Photo courtesy of Amanda Allan on Facebook. #yyjtraffic #yyjnews #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/H96BeCcZFO
— Shalu Mehta (@ShaluMehta32) February 9, 2019
When incidents like this occurred in the past, crews had to transport barricades from the public works yard and set them in place. The city website says “irresponsible drivers have been known to ignore the barricades and travel around them, creating a dangerous situation for themselves and others.”
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The gates will also allow the City of Colwood to use the area as a planned pedestrian park space for events like the Eats & Beats at the Beach festival in July.
Site preparation work has begun for the gates which will be installed this spring.
shalu.mehta@goldstreamgazette.com
