A constant source of frustration and conflict in New Westminster, traffic is one of the most heated issues in our city right now. This is the second in a series of posts highlighting responses from New Westminster Environmental Partners’ mayor and council candidates’ survey focusing on environmental issues.

I’ve been dutifully attending TransLink’s consultation sessions for the UBE. We’ve seen 3 so far, and the last one will be held this Thursday evening at 7 pm at the Sapperton Pensioner’s Hall at 318 Keary St, just up from Columbia. Translink will be “reporting out”, summarizing what they’ve heard from the community over the weeks of discussion. I’d encourage all citizens to come out to see what TransLink is planning to bring to New Westminster. As for me, I must admit that my attendance at these sessions has left me feeling like I’ve been pushed into owning something I really don’t want.

The Gordian knot of exits, on-ramps and highways at Stewardson and 20th St. near the Queensborough Bridge is one of the gnarliest intersections in the Lower Mainland, let alone New Westminster. I live just blocks away and regularly end up in Burnaby when I mean to go to Queensborough, or vice versa.

About two years ago, I was car-addicted. I owned a vehicle – an old piece of junk GMC Tracker – and I drove everywhere, even just a few blocks. I wouldn’t go places if I couldn’t drive there. My husband took transit to school, or carpooled with me and when he graduated and secured employment in the construction industry, one of the requirements was a vehicle to visit job sites. My old clunker of a Tracker, although fairly fuel efficient and highly manouverable, simply didn’t have enough room to carry …

If there’s one issue that everyone in New West agrees is a problem, it’s traffic. The problem of drivers speeding through residential areas and, worse, school zones, is just one of the many traffic issues that New Westies like to complain about. 
The city has resolved to do something about it. Permanent solar-powered signs have been installed near Tweedsmuir, McBride, Howay and Robson Elementary schools that nag drivers to check their speed. 
Says the city’s news release: 
The new speed reader boards will remain in operation around the clock. On school days, from …

According to Translink and the Vancouver Sun, the Patullo Bridge opens tomorrow morning at 6am – up to 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
Translink attributes the unexpected opening to their ability to source the workers and supplies needed to repair the southern part of the span that was destroyed by fire. A replacement span from part of the Canada Line construction project was even used to take the place of the missing span, which sped up the rebuilding process considerably.
The slow response of vehicle commuters, however, has got transit planners …

The Surrey Leader reports that New Westminster’s Brad Ross has provoked a testy bit of back-and-forth between provincial transportation minister Kevin Falcon and Delta city council. Ross commutes to Delta, facing a regular bottleneck at Highway 91 and 72 Ave.
New Westminster resident Brad Ross, who makes regular trips across the [Alex Fraser] bridge, wrote Falcon to ask if there were plans to build an overpass.
According to the minister’s written reply, the traffic lights are still there because Delta “strongly favoured an alternate and more costly configuration, and we were unable …

Traffic congestion and public transit infrastructure are named among the top issues for most civic election candidates in New Westminster – and it seems we’re not alone. Greater Vancouver is experiencing major growing pains related to suburbun expansion. Cost of living has boosted growth in areas like Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam, Surrey and Abbotsford, but the majority of jobs are still located in Vancouver. The result is gridlock due to the funnel effect of so many people coming into the downtown area through a limited number of access points.

Unsurprisingly, those at …

And now for an interlude, appropriately enough, from the Starbucks at Chapters in Metropolis (née metrotown). New Westminsterites of my vintage will remember it as Metrotown, that mecca of all things cool and consumer-related.
When I was a kid, Metrotown was THE only place to see a movie, buy reasonable clothes, shop on your own, and oftentimes, eat. Sure, some of that was owing to the uniquely terrible palate of one’s teenage years, but I know I’m not alone in saying that Metrotown was the mecca for everything. Growing up in …