Dear Editor:
Re: Watch your speed, Burnaby NOW, Sept. 5.
The article by Janaya Fuller-Evans does not address why people are avoiding Hastings Street and cutting through the residential street of North Burnaby to get to their destination.
The City of Burnaby has created two High occupancy vehicle lanes on Hastings Street that basically reduce this vital route from six lanes to four for motorists. These HOV lanes are not used at full capacity during rush hours.
They create traffic lineups on the nonHOV lanes, which in turn create exhaust air pollution. (Is this part of caring for the environment by the city?)
They slow traffic down to the point that motorists will look for other routes through neighbourhoods making them less safe. They increase policing costs, which are passed on to the taxpayer.
They cause additional costs in modifying traffic signs, etc. also passed on to the tax payer.
So basically the HOV lanes on Hastings Street have not solved any problems, just created more traffic and cost issues that the city now tries to artificially correct by lowering the speed limit to 40 km/h in North Burnaby neighbourhoods.
These are make-work projects for the City of Burnaby at taxpayers' expense that solve nothing when it comes to getting the traffic moving in a timely fashion.
Maurice Harting, Burnaby
