TimberWest has announced it will begin paving a section of a private forest road near Youbou on Sept. 25 in an effort to help deal with dust and mud issues.
The road will be paved to Cottonwood Creek and road closures will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., staring Monday.
The forest company is asking motorists to use the South Shore Road for access beyond Youbou.
Company spokeswoman Pam Jorgenson said that, in addition, TimberWest will focus on its continued collaboration with the Cowichan Valley Regional District and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to minimize dust, mud and noise from industrial traffic in the area.
She said that includes coordinating effective street sweeping, making additional improvements to the truck wash, and implementing solutions to slow down traffic.
“We will keep the community informed on our collective progress to implement these solutions on a regular basis by sharing information through the Youbou Community Association newsletter and Facebook page,” Jorgenson said.
“As is TimberWest’s practice, we will continue to share our harvesting plans with the community in advance of harvesting activities.”
TimberWest took the option of constructing a new bypass route around Youbou Road for logging trucks in an effort to deal with the issues off the table after a public meeting in the community in late August.
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Many residents raised concerns around landslides, erosion and severe water run-off into Youbou from a new bypass route above the community if the construction of such a route went ahead.
Some at the meeting felt that the real purpose of TimberWest was to build the bypass road mainly so the company could log the hills above Youbou.