Dear Editor:
Does anybody consider a lack of planning for our traffic congestion? I do. When the Lions Gate was built in the ’30s it was to encourage development. Ditto for the Ironworkers Memorial in the late ’50s. The Howe Sound corridor and Squamish/Whistler area had maybe 8,000 residents in the ’60s. I remember.
Has anyone witnessed the backup of traffic that occurs on the western part of the Upper Levels during the late afternoon? It’s Howe Sound traffic.
Go a little further and you have the trades traffic trying to get off the North Shore. So now 60 years later we have unprecedented growth and building all over the North Shore and Howe Sound but are using infrastructure designed for that population at the time.
Perhaps we should put up a sign saying: Sorry. We Are Full.
You could see the developments in the ’70s were going to bring more people to this area – let alone Expo 86 and the 2010 Olympics. Why did we not plan on it?
At that time we could have planned for a third crossing by securing lands on the north and south shores of Burrard inlet.
But no.
Punish the populace with another tax – road pricing. Build millions and millions of dollars of traffic flow-slowing bike lanes too – can you believe this? Accommodate 1.5 per cent of workforce commutes, according to the latest census. Did I just blame the politicians?
Greg Bedard
North Vancouver
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