Mae Burrows just wants kids to have a proper sidewalk that they can safely use while on their way to school.
Instead, what the neighbourhood got is derisively referred to by area residents as the “sidewalk to nowhere.”
The City of Burnaby installed a sidewalk in 2019, Burrows said, on Stanley Street, which is located between Canada Way and Sixth Street near Lakeview Elementary School and just west of Robert Burnaby Park.
Sixth Street is a “speedway” that kids and adults are forced to use, Burrows said, and the sidewalk just ends there. The problem is that Sixth Street is not in any way pedestrian friendly. With vehicles allowed to park on either side, it leaves no safe way for pedestrians or cyclists despite being a cut-through road.
“We call it ‘the sidewalk to nowhere’,” Burrows said. “The sidewalk ends abruptly at Sixth Street, a very busy road which has neither a sidewalk nor adequate lighting for dark rainy nights. Now, on Sixth, one has to walk on the road, outside parked cars, in the traffic lanes, no lines on the road. No speed bumps. Nada. Old people, kids making their way up to the school, people with dogs and buggies.
“But Stanley is ‘safe’ because we’ve got signs. On our little street we have: 14 hazard signs, seven ‘no stopping’ signs, 1 ‘no parking’ sign, eight street lights and six speed bump signs. And, of course, as we know, people always obey signs.”
Burrows says the sidewalk just ending at a busy road feels insulting because it acknowledges a need for people to have safe places to walk, but says the city isn’t willing to go any further.
She wants this to change.
Sidewalks are always a hot topic in Burnaby. Marine Drive, for example, in South Burnaby is a dangerous place to walk.
The city has committed to add more sidewalks since Mayor Mike Hurley was elected.
Council voted in 2019 to increase its spending on sidewalks by $10 million per year to cover the 40% of local roads – 275 kilometres – without a sidewalk on one or both sides.
In all, the city estimates it’s missing 438 km of sidewalks.
Burnaby currently builds an average of 7 km of sidewalk every year – putting it on pace to cover only half the city’s needs over the next 30 years, according to a staff report quoted in this NOW story. Staff estimate “completion of the sidewalk network would take over 60 years through current policies, practices and funding levels.”
Staff recommended to increase the sidewalk spending by $5.5 million but the financial management committee increased that to $10 million.
Perhaps someone at the city will read Burrows’ plea and do something about Sixth Street.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
