Editor:
An open letter to the Burnaby Mayor and members of council
I was advised by your traffic department to contact your office with respect to installing two traffic circles in my neighbourhood and removing four-way stop signs.
One being at Victory and Waverley and the other at Victory and Frederick.
A few years ago, there was an attempt to do these circles but was rejected by the council.
The only rationale and logic that I'm told by your people is so that bicycle riders do not have to stop. They do not stop now. And I'm told by your people, that with stop signs they have to look both to the right and left.
Well, will circles stop them from looking to the right and left?
I don't think so.
The fact that Victory is a bike route is, frankly, a joke as I live on Victory and I observe traffic daily and there is very little bike traffic - only a few locals.
Kingsway, SkyTrain route, Imperial, Rumble Marine Drive and Marine Way are all bike routes. So why Victory?
Victory is not and should have never designated a bike route because it dead ends at Patterson and Royal Oak. Duh.
Extremely poor planning and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
Fire trucks cannot maneuver around circles as determined by the fire department, so they have to use a different street that do not have circles. Public safety?
Plus you will have add a bunch of ugly signs that will only clutter our streetscape which will harm the quality and visual effects.
And the existing circles are never maintained and are tacky and full of weeds and total eyesores.
So what are the fundamental advantages of circles versus four-way stop signs?
In my opinion, there aren't any advantages, only disadvantages.
So let's throw our money away and make-more-work projects.
I hope that someone can answer these questions and let's come to our senses.
Nicholas Podas, Burnaby
