Dear Editor:
Re: Coquitlam pushes for action from New West, The Record, March 22.
TransLink and other municipalities shouldn't be able to use New West as an open sewer for the trucking industry.
Mayor Wright and New Westminster council are absolutely right to delay the replacement of Bailey Bridge that links New Westminster to industrial land in Coquitlam.
It might be beneficial for Coquitlam to expand their tax base by developing their industrial land, but replacing Bailey Bridge to accommodate more truck traffic through New Westminster is exactly what citizens of our city don't want.
What New West city council needs to do is exactly the opposite of what Coquitlam is proposing.
They need to tame through truck traffic in our city because it's reaching horrifying levels.
Since tolls were introduced on the new Port Mann Bridge, truck and car traffic has rapidly expanded through New West.
McBride, East Columbia and Royal Avenue are jammed with traffic going through the city to the Pattullo Bridge.
And now quiet residential streets are being used as "short cuts" for vehicles trying to avoid delays on major roads.
The volume of traffic going through New West to the Pattullo Bridge is far too high, and city council needs to take aggressive steps to reduce it by every legal means.
Because New Westminster is a small city that's centrally located doesn't mean TransLink and other municipalities get to use our city as an open sewer for the noise and exhaust pollution for the trucking industry.
Robert Macquarrie, New Westminster
