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LETTERS: Speedy traffic solution required

Letter writers suggest cities of Surrey and White Rock need a co-ordinated effort to combat speed.
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Letter writers suggest municipal governments of both Surrey and White Rock need a co-ordinated effort to combat speed. (Aaron Hinks photo)

Editor:

I write to comment on that raceway we call 16 Avenue in Surrey and North Bluff Road on the White Rock side.

Motorists should be aware that the municipal speed limit is 50 km/h; that limit is posted only once as you enter White Rock from the freeway side and once in the other direction from Ocean Park.

By Centennial Park – 146 Street if you are a Surryite – there is on the North Bluff side a radar-controlled sign displaying the speed of cars approaching from the west. Cars there rarely pass at 50 km/h, most are at 60-plus km/h. Cars do slow down when 60 is lit up for them.

Council should consider installing another of these radar signs near Stayte Road/160 Street for traffic coming into White Rock from the freeway and King George Boulevard.

Speed often increases, too, as cars try to beat the light near Peace Arch Hospital, where – because the block is long – pedestrians tend to jaywalk.

Gerry Porter, White Rock

• • •

Does anyone seriously question that the stretch of four-lane highway on North Bluff/16 Avenue between 136 Street and Kind George Boulevard – which is loaded with busy traffic, including heavy trucks, from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. – is a problem?

Try sitting outside a local coffee house to have a social chat as trucks and buses roar by. The sound level is almost painful. Imagine what it will be like with the planned population increases.

The time for action is now. What to do?

1. Ban trucks? An appealing thought. It has the advantage of redistributing trucks between the other east/west roads to relieve the burden.

2. Reduce the traffic speed. I travel this road every day and there is a noticeable increase in speed when leaving the single lane and entering the dual lanes, until the average vehicle is travelling at least 10 to 20 km/h above the posted limit.

3. Beautify the road: this unlovely, utilitarian stretch of ugliness shows such a lack of caring, it is hardly surprising drivers want to hurry through.

These long-term solutions can be debated, planned and implemented, but action is needed now. There is one simple and inexpensive action that can be implemented quickly to reduce speed.

The dual-lane highway between 136 Street and King George Boulevard should have a speed limit of 30 km/h for trucks and buses, along with a number of prominent electronic speed boards to give all drivers immediate, visual feedback.

This is one community, not two, split between Surrey and White Rock. Both governments need to work together, because we all share the same safety concerns, air and detrimental effects of noise.

Paul Brinton, Surrey