Editor:
I need to respond to the previous week’s letter by B. Beuerlein, if I may.
I’ve lived in lower Sapperton for 25 years, and I agree there is necessary changes to be made to the traffic patterns for the safety of all involved. Certainly the expropriation of said properties is a good idea.
But let’s face it, the real problem here is the railway thoroughfare. And let’s look at the reality of the changes we need to make. The New Westminster swing bridge was constructed in 1904. It was not built to handle the weight of modern-day trains and will have to be replaced soon.
The biggest problem on this Brunette traffic route is the Braid Street railroad crossing, and the fact that every passing train controls the signals for the right-of-way. And there are 68 trains each day blowing whistles in each direction, echoing off the new Wesgroup highrises. Those trains delay any movement into the Braid industrial area, mostly large trucks with diesels idling while they have to wait for trains.
There is only one place for pedestrians to cross along the entire stretch of highway. And more often than not you can hear the trucks using the "jake brakes" to slow down approaching Braid. The amount of diesel particulate matter floating in the air that I breathe is increasing.
I would like to know how the city intends to accommodate all the future traffic of the Sapperton Green complex? 7500 units? And why is it that the Brunette bridge is the only freeway overpass which was not improved with the $13-billion freeway development project? Braid Street needs to be rerouted beneath the tracks in a way to accommodate all the trucks and that railway crossing removed. Either that, or just closed completely with the only access to Braid Industrial area being Spruce Street or United Boulevard.
It takes me less than a minute to get from the freeway to my driveway, but to get from my driveway to the freeway is usually 10 to 15 minutes.
What needs to happen is for Metro Vancouver to meet with all the railway companies involved and create a master plan with a new route under the Fraser River from Thornton yards, and under the Brunette River all the way to the BNSF cut.
What better way to improve the whole of lower Sapperton than to remove most of the railway infrastructure and remediate it for more human purposes? Tunnelling works well everywhere else; why not here?
Sometimes I can't understand how shortsighted urban planners can be.
M. Hildebrand
📢 SOUND OFF: Do you live in the Sapperton neighbourhood? How would you like to see truck and train traffic addressed? Do you feel safe as a pedestrian and a cylist? Share your thoughts — send us a letter.
