Dear Editor:
Can we please get these trucks off of Royal Avenue? I believe when I moved in, it was zoned as a residential neighbourhood. When I moved in, there were not this many trucks going by each and every minute. When I moved in, the Port Mann was not a toll bridge and did not cause all of this traffic to now use the Pattullo Bridge. When I listed my apartment last time, every single prospective buyer was aghast about the trucks sitting right under my window spewing exhaust.
If we can't get these trucks off of Royal Avenue immediately, can we please blacktop the road with the same kind of quiet asphalt that they used near the Golden Ears Bridge? This would smooth out the road and perhaps dampen the sound of all of these thousands of trucks clanging and banging their way up Royal Avenue.
The road in front of my building is very uneven and has many grooves, and now that the city has put new pipes underground, the road is like a patch work quilt of bumps. This in turn is causing every truck without cargo to make tremendous thunderous amounts of noise, while the chains and wheels bounce over the bumps and bang and clang along the entire street.
If we can't get these trucks off of Royal Avenue, can we limit the time they are allowed to use Royal Avenue? For example, not on weekends and only during specified hours. Now that the Port Mann Bridge has been tolled, these trucks are coming along Royal Avenue at all hours of the day and night. It would be nice on a Sunday morning to actually sleep past 7 a.m. and wake up naturally without a loud banging and clanging truck. For that matter, it would be nice to have my windows open and perhaps even sit on my patio. For that matter, it would be nice to even watch television without having the volume at the highest level. For that matter, it would be nice to ditch these asthma inhalers that I had to purchase because of all of the diesel I breathe in each and every single day, whether I want to or not.
I would like to be a part of the solution, so I am giving consent for the city to use my tax dollars to fix this road. I don't have any children so you can also use that portion of my tax dollars to fix this road. I'm sure a couple of restrictive signs and a bit of blacktop have been more than paid for by the residents of my building.
Besides, think how much money the province can rake in if these trucks were to continue to go over the Port Mann and pay the toll. Think how much money the City of New Westminster could make by ticketing these trucks if they use Royal Avenue outside of the specified hours.
Get these trucks off of Royal Avenue or at least give us some sort of relief from the deafening noise and the acrid air that pollutes our homes all day every day.
S. Tanner, New Westminster
