East Side residents who rallied to get heavy industrial traffic off Nanaimo Street say they are now facing increased traffic on Renfrew and other neighbouring streets.
As part of a 90-day pilot project that began Aug. 25, container trucks bound for Port Metro Vancouver have been barred from using Nanaimo Street south of Hastings Street and can only use major road networks, or MRN, after the traditional inbound access via Clark Drive was closed to incoming traffic late last year because of congestion. Too may truckers then began using Nanaimo Street as a shortcut, which prompted the ban.
Im not sure if it is as drastic an increase as it was on Nanaimo street, but were hearing that Renfrew is now seeing a big increase in truck traffic, said Kelly Carter, a mother of two young children and a member of the grassroots non-partisan group Advocating for Container Trucks Off Residential Streets (ACTORS). They are supposed to be taking Clark north to Hastings and then turning right on Hastings until Cassiar and then onto Commissioner, but what they are really doing is heading north on Clark straight to Powell and heading up Powell, which is not part of the MRN. The residents of that area have been quite vocal as well, at least with us, with our Google groups saying the trucks are still very much there. It seems like the Ports position was to only address this very one small section of Nanaimo between Broadway and Hastings where our group has been the most vocal about although our purpose was to make it safe on all the streets in the neighbourhood.
Carter said the group wants industrial traffic return to Clark Drive rather than on more pedestrian-friendly streets that werent designed to accommodate them and border over a dozen schools.
The city spent millions of dollars improving Clark so that it accommodates truck traffic, whereas all these streets in East Vancouver where they are now having to filter through are not set up for it, she said. I understand that the truckers arent too happy either, having to turn six times and not easy turns either, along with the added time it takes.
Anna Deeley, Port Metro Vancouvers communications specialist, said she has been hearing more complaints from newly affected residents.
The number of people weve heard from on Nanaimo has drastically dropped, but now we do hear from more people on Renfrew, said Deeley, adding that the Port welcomes feedback from the public during the trial period and can be reached at [email protected] or 604-665-9066. The idea is to do the trial and see how things go and receive public comments and monitor the roadways and then see if it has been a success or if we have to reconsider it with the City of Vancouver in discussion with them. We do take the concerns of residents very, very seriously.
The trial period is scheduled to end Nov. 22.
Twitter: @flematic
