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Residents worried pedestrian bridge won't be replaced

Residents on either side of Beaverbrook Drive in Burnaby are worried the city might not replace a pedestrian overpass across the busy roadway.

Residents on either side of Beaverbrook Drive in Burnaby are worried the city might not replace a pedestrian overpass across the busy roadway.

The bridge was destroyed a month ago by a dump truck after the driver forgot to lower the box, which then collided with the overpass.

The span connected two residential areas, with a number of townhouse complexes and playgrounds directly on either side.

Without the overpass, some parents with kids at Village Daycare and Lyndhurst Preschool on the south side of Beaverbrook now have to walk 20 minutes to get there instead of three minutes, according to Village Daycare director Wanda Gray.

“I hate that it’s not there,” she said of the bridge.

Gray said the city contacted her about the overpass a few weeks ago and she got the impression staff hadn’t decided whether or not it would be replaced.

“They haven’t decided whether they’re going to put it (back up) or not yet because they really didn’t know how many people actually used it,” she said.

 With school back in session, there are about 24 kids at the daycare, according to Gray, and about 40 at the preschool.

“For the first two months, we don’t cross a crosswalk because we have to be able to get them to follow the directions and stay in line and stick with a partner,” she said, “so we use the bridge instead to cross over and there’s a park over there that we usually go to. Without the bridge, we’ll have to stay on our side.”

Without the overpass, catching the bus and walking to nearby Burnaby Mountain secondary will also take a lot longer, according to Gray.

Concerned residents are trying to get the word out about the bridge and the possibility it might not be replaced.

Besides trying to get the issue onto strata council agendas in the neighbourhood, residents have also launched an online petition.

“Since the usage of this overpass has not been monitored and no statistic available, we feel it’s important to have our voice heard and share with the city how important this bridge is to our community,” states the petition at tinyurl.com/BeaverbrookPetition.

As of Tuesday, however, it had only received four signatures.

The city, meanwhile, is reviewing all its options when it comes to the bridge, according to Doug Louie, assistant director engineering and transportation services.

An ICBC claim arising from the dump-truck crash will likely be “big,” he said, and his department is still waiting to see how that will work out.

Before making a decision, the city will consider both cost and how much the bridge is used, according to Louie.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls, and I’ve been telling them there’s no decision made yet,” he said. “I sense that there’s some concerns about the potential of it not being rebuilt, but, again, I can’t say at this point in time. …We need more information before we make that decision.”

If the city does decide to replace the overpass, Louie said construction will likely take at least a year.