Dear Editor:
Please tell me I am jumping the gun and the city of New West plans to do more than what I see now on Royal Avenue.
Our building is on Royal Avenue. Need I say more? As if things weren’t bad enough already, the city has decided that an entrance for the new school should be on Merrivale Street accessed from Royal Avenue.
Our building sits between Royal Avenue, Cunningham Street (which is a lane) and it is also bordered by Fourth Street and Merrivale Street. We are talking one square block here. The brilliant people in the know have put the entrance to the school on Merrivale instead of Agnes Street which is considerably longer and more spacious.
To top it off, the people in the know have also cut off access for any left turns off of Royal onto Merrivale Street. Our only option to turn left to get home now is Fourth Street where only one car can turn left per light change. Anyone familiar with Royal Avenue will know that the stream of traffic goes from the bottom of Royal right to the bridge entrance for hours at a time.
So now, in addition to half of the Lower Mainland’s traffic, that don’t even live in New West, we have a special lane for all of the school vehicles.
My concern, besides the added traffic, is that the lane, Cunningham Street, will be used like any other street in New West.
Our building is basically surrounded by a moat of traffic. I find it curious how the sign that was on Royal by the overpass has now been removed. It said no trucks between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. We have double lanes of trucks right outside our window all day and well into the night. A church with no parking on the weekends and at times throughout the week. A farmers’ market on Thursday right across the street.
Is there anything else the city has forgotten to saddle us with in terms of vehicles and gases?
It’s hard enough to get home sometimes. Now it appears it will be hard to even leave home unless we want to go all around the mulberry bush or sit stuck in the lane waiting for all of our “visitors” to leave.
Who in their right mind would put a school on a road filled with diesel spewing trucks on Royal Avenue?
Who would want their kids to go to school there?
Please tell me I am jumping the gun over this seeming disaster-to-be.
Sussi Tanner, New Westminster
