Road safety and traffic management were at the forefront of discussion on Monday evening, as the District of North Vancouver council joined heads to talk on how to make Delbrook Road safer for the community, and how to manage the incessant traffic in the Deep Cove neighbourhood.
“I just think this is a bigger issue than we’re really giving it credit for,” said Coun. Lisa Muri on Monday night.
“I really think council needs to have a philosophical discussion on what kind of neighbourhoods we want, what we expect and how we’re going to have to engineer these neighbourhoods in order to make them safer, because we’re dealing with a lot more traffic, we’re dealing with different kinds of cars that drive differently, and I think all of those things contribute to this discussion in the community where we need to slow things down.”
Coun. Jordan Back supported Muri’s points, adding how council needed to look at “re-engineering the whole corridor," to find solutions to the problem as opposed to temporary fixes.
“I would appreciate speedboards, and I know that residents along the Delbrook corridor will as well, but I think that will do very little to actually change the experience of anyone who’s walking or cycling or travelling along that corridor by any other means than in their car,” he said.
Muri and Back both said the district should be looking towards the City of North Vancouver for how to implement better safety precautions – not just on Delbrook, but throughout the region as a whole.
“I would like to see more vigorous efforts to slow traffic on Delbrook, which I believe the community has very clearly set out as a high priority, and then, frankly, I’d like to see a whole revamp of our speeding enforcement all across the district,” agreed Coun. Jim Hansen, adding that Mount Seymour Parkway, a road he drives every day, is equally as dangerous.
“You take your life in your hands every time you get on the road,” he said.
An amended motion was passed, opposed only by Coun. Herman Mah, for staff to report on alternative options for Delbrook and conduct a workshop to talk about the larger issues of transportation and traffic.
A motion was also carried, with all council members in favour, for staff to report back on a comprehensive traffic management plan for Deep Cove as soon as possible, following a plea from Muri.
“We have for years talked about alternative ways of getting people down to Deep Cove – shuttle system, ride a bike – and still we get an enormous amount of people driving in hoping to find that coveted parking spot where they can spend the morning or the afternoon or the entire day, visiting Deep Cove,” she said.
“The challenge for the local neighbourhood is watching that stream of cars drive around, and around, and around the block waiting to find a parking spot.”
Muri said she was asking staff to come back with a plan that would “finally balance out the needs for visitors to come into the Cove to support local business” but also give the residential community an ability to visit those businesses again, “because right now the local community is very apprehensive to go into the Cove, especially during the summer months or on sunny weekends.”
The sentiment was echoed by all members, with Hansen adding that there hasn’t been much thought put into how the region will address the demands of the growing population, and council needs to come together to “think out of the box” to come up with a solution.
“There is that need to strike that balance between residential area and attraction, because it is one of the most attractive sites in the district,” agreed Mah.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
