To the Editor,
Re: Moving Gabriola ferry offers numerous benefits, Letters, Mar 17.
Moving the Gabriola ferry from its present downtown Nanaimo location to Duke Point is a bad idea.
It would force people into their cars to drive the extra seven miles to Nanaimo; thus adding to traffic congestion and burning even more fossil fuel. It would also make it impossible for foot passengers and cyclists to get to town.
And building two bridges across Mudge Island is an even worse scheme.
Not only would the cost of constructing bridges and all the attendant roadways be far more than running the ferry, it would add an extra 12 miles to the trip to Nanaimo, making it even harder for people to get out of their cars.
At a time when cities everywhere are encouraging pedestrian, cyclist and transit friendly transportation, building car-only systems is moving back to a failed 1950s mentality. Nanaimo tried it and now suffers from being “a highway strip mall in search of a city.”
Gabriola deserves better. Leave the ferry where it is.
I. Bulic
Gabriola Island
