The City of Burnaby is working on untangling what Mayor Derek Corrigan has referred to as a "Gordian knot" of snarled traffic in the Heights neighbourhood.
After years of consultations and planning on how to best deal with traffic congestion in North Burnaby, the city is moving forward with some of its plans to address the issue.
City council approved $660,500 in funding for the traffic management measures at the July 16th council meeting. The funding comes from Burnaby's capital reserves, and the project was part of the 2012 Annual Financial Plan.
The city plans to construct curb bulges, crosswalks, sidewalks, and speed humps in the area, and improve intersections as well, according to a report from the city's director of engineering, Lambert Chu.
The safety measures were decided by the city after consulting with the public last year.
After the public consultations, the following measures were approved:
-- Working towards future left-turn lanes at Gilmore Avenue;
- Developing criteria for Local Area Service Program (LASP) speed humps on residential streets at high-priority locations;
- Developing criteria for city-funded raised sidewalks on local collector streets at high-priority locations;
- Developing criteria for city-initiated LASPs for sidewalks at high-priority locations;
- Completion of a parking review for the neighbourhood;
- Reconfiguring the Cambridge Street and Gamma Avenue intersection from six legs into four;
and, putting in a marked crosswalk across Willingdon Avenue at Pandora Street.
The city's transportation committee recommended against increasing the current hours of the HOV lanes on Hastings street, or putting in road closure barriers, due to feedback from the public, according to a city report last year.
The first stage of Burnaby's traffic improvement plan, developed from recommendations made in Sept. 2010, included a one-year trial of a reduced speed limit in the Heights neighbourhood; curb bulges for three Albert Street intersections; continued education and enforcement of traffic laws in the neighbourhood; continued support for upgrading residential roads; and a periodic review of Hastings Street signal timings. twitter.com/janayafe
