With Squamish’s population growing, some residents are voicing concerns about roads that need to be updated to accommodate the traffic influx.
The complaints emailed to District of Squamish council include concerns about confusing intersections, speeding cars and unsafe pedestrian crossings.
Squamish resident Glenn Stainton points to one intersection of concern, Guilford Drive and Clarke Drive in Valleycliffe, that he says is becoming busier as the number of people living in the neighbourhood increases. “At this intersection, it is often very hard to distinguish the turning lanes, particularly in the twilight hours and during the rainy season,” he wrote to council.
The intersection is the main entrance to Valleycliffe, Squamish General Hospital and a section of Smoke Bluffs Park. In his letter, Stainton suggests adding signs and curbs to make the intersection more visible.
“We need a long-range plan… and this could be an interim solution until the intersection is studied more,” Stainton told The Squamish Chief. “It’s a lot busier of an intersection than it was 20 years ago when we moved in.”
Another Valleycliffe resident, Cynthia Thomson, said in a letter to council that cars speed down the hill and, as a new mother, she finds crossing the street to get to trails and the sidewalk unsafe.
“This is the only entrance to Valleycliffe, and with continued development on Plateau [Drive], this is going to get busier and busier,” she wrote, suggesting a traffic circle may help manage the cars better.
Gary Buxton, the district’s manager of development and public works, said he has received more letters than usual this month, and the requests need to be prioritized so the most urgent concerns are taken care of first. He received three letters in a week from Valleycliffe residents alone.
If warranted, the projects will be added to the 2017 capital project budget.
“If it’s a simple fix, we might be able to do it, but if it’s anything major, it will get done in 2017 or later,” he said. “We have set amounts for road rehabilitation, but these are one-off capital projects.”
Traffic volume and speed is analyzed for each location before a decision is made. The district also looks at data from ICBC that shows how many accidents are occurring at a specific area.
Consideration of most road improvements will wait until after Squamish’s Active Transportation Plan, which addresses pedestrian and bike safety, is presented to council in July.
The plan looks closely at roads around schools, said Buxton. Data on traffic volume and speed still needs to be collected for the Guildford-Clarke intersection before any changes can be considered, said Buxton, adding he doesn’t know yet whether a roundabout would be appropriate.
“There must be a change in traffic in this area. It may be Crumpit Woods, and more construction traffic,” Buxton said of the Valleycliffe neighbourhood.
Although the exact numbers aren’t available, Squamish communications manager Christina Moore said the best estimate of the district’s population was around 19,000 people in 2014, up from 17,000 in 2011. Updated stats aren’t available, but the residents who wrote letters to council have seen a steep increase in traffic this year.
Brackendale resident Jon Chiniborch collected 16 signatures from neighbours who are concerned about several problems around Reid Road and Edwards Road, located within blocks of the Hwy. 99.
“Over the past several years, there has been an increased number of duplexes and homes with rental units that have been built on Honey Lane and Edwards. Many young families are moving in, and there are over 20 kids under the age of 10 years old...” Chiniborch wrote.
“With such a concentration of homes, rental units and cars on our street, there is a need for more speed restrictions in order to prevent injury to our children.”
His suggestions for the neighbourhood include installing a four-way stop at the Hanes-Finn-Edwards intersection, a three-way stop and crosswalk with flashing lights at the Reid-Depot intersection, reducing the speed in certain sections to 30 km/h and signs that indicate children are playing nearby.
The district is going to install a crosswalk across Depot Road at Reid Road, remove vegetation and install no-parking signs to improve sight lines. There are no plans, at this time, for additional stop signs on Depot Road.
“It gets weighted against all the other priorities,” he said.
(This story has been updated since originally posted.)
