The City of Burnaby is embarking on a long-term project to finally get some safer pedestrian infrastructure built on a neglected South Burnaby road.
And those changes to Marine Drive can’t come soon enough for Sonia, a long-time area resident who says she’s fed up with a lack of sidewalks and the dangers at one intersection in particular – Marine and Nelson Avenue.
“I have lived here for over 10 years, patiently waiting for a sidewalk to be built. But my current woe is accidents waiting to happen at the intersection of Marine Drive and Nelson. It used to have a stop sign until 2016. Now it has a traffic light with poor planning. Every day, driving my kids home from school, I wait to turn left on Marine Drive from Nelson. It's a narrow space, but people have no patience. Big SUVs, even smaller U-haul types, squeeze by me as I wait to turn. Almost every day I gasp at least once that someone's going to hit our car. It is that narrow. I wonder how much planning did the city put in when they replaced the stop sign? Yes, northbound Nelson is better now because of the lights, but the same issue of squeezing vehicles there. Going south is a nightmare. Vehicles are coming down the hill at speed, see a car waiting to turn left, decide to squeeze past it - my kids and I are jittery there every day.”
That sounds less than ideal. Perhaps this new infrastructure project by the City of Burnaby can address this by widening the road a little.
Council was asked earlier this year to approved $4,185,600 for road work on Marine Drive from Boundary Road to Greenall Avenue.
Marine Drive has been the subject of many complaints from residents because of a lack of sidewalks, street lighting and more.
“The project scope includes road upgrades to the following components: sidewalk, urban trail, curb and gutter, street lighting, and a controlled pedestrian crossing,” reads a city staff report.
The upgrades also include watermain replacement and the Kaymar crossing replacement on Marine Drive from Boundary Road to Greenall Avenue.
This project is part of a larger plan the city has for Marine Drive from Boundary Road to Patterson Avenue and from Sussex Avenue to Byrne Road with a budget of nearly $7 million, according to a previous city staff report.
According to a city statement issued to the NOW in May 2019, this is a “very complex” project, with about 3.7 kilometres of work needed.
“It’s an area with steep grades on both sides of Marine Drive – hills to the north side along Sussex and Gilley, for instance, can give you a sense of the terrain,” said a statement from the city.
The city is calling the Marine project adding an “urban trail” on the north side of Marine and a new sidewalk on the south side, meaning “there will be the need for retaining walls in many areas and re-grading of driveways.
“It’s also a major east-west traffic connector, so we’re looking at phasing the project in a way that minimizes traffic impacts.”
This will be a “high-impact project,” says the city and so extensive public consultations are planned.
“The current estimate for the project is seven years and may be subject to change as the city works through the design stage to seek opportunities to expedite the project,” said the statement.
