TransLink has put the brakes on the city’s request to push truck traffic onto roads surrounding the city.
In March, the city asked TransLink to remove Royal Avenue, East Eighth Avenue and portions of East Columbia Street and Ewen Avenue from the city's truck route network. TransLink has nixed the request to take trucks off Royal, East Eighth and East Columbia and has deferred a decision about Ewen Avenue.
“Not the decision New Westminster was looking for, and part of the decision is not what we were expecting,” said Coun. Jonathan Cote, co-chair of the city’s master transportation plan committee. “Certainly from the city’s perspective, we are disappointed with the response, in particular regarding East Columbia, East Eighth and Ewen Avenue. We felt there was a very strong case to remove those right away as the justification of those being truck routes right now didn’t really make a lot of sense and was having an unnecessary negative impact on the livability of those neighbourhoods.”
While the city thought a decision about those three routes would be straightforward, Cote said it recognized Royal Avenue could take a little bit longer to achieve and would likely coordinate with plans for replacing the Pattullo Bridge.
“I think it’s a shame,” he said of the decision. “It becomes apparent that community livability just wasn’t one of the factors that they were considering, particularly with some of those easier decisions that we felt could have been made and would not have had a significant impact on goods movement in the region.
“Here was an opportunity for TransLink to actually make a decision that had a benefit to the residential neighbourhoods that are being affected, and really have minimal to no impact on the region.”
Before making a decision, TransLink consulted with other Lower Mainland municipalities and the B.C. Trucking Association and other stakeholders.
Cote doesn’t believe removing East Columbia, East Eighth and Ewen from the regional truck network would have had an impact on goods movement.
“I think it’s a typical knee-jerk reaction from some of our neighbouring municipalities and the B.C. Trucking Association,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think that’s what played heavily in TransLink’s decision.”
Council hasn’t had a meeting since the decision was made, but Cote expects the city will continue to press for the changes.
“I think we will continue to push for all four of those routes,” he said. “It’s in our long-term plans for our transportation plan to see those routes removed. Although this is a setback, this is not the end. I think the city is going to continue to push and make an even stronger case to eventually get all four of those routes removed from the truck routes.”
Residents in all areas of the city have voiced concern about the increase in truck traffic and the impacts it’s having on livability. After tolls were introduced on the Port Mann, the Queen’s Park Residents’ Association has written to the province’s transportation minister asking that the 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. truck ban on Royal Avenue be increased to 24 hours.
TransLink’s decision doesn’t come as a surprise to Brow of the Hill Residents’ Association president Matt Lorenzi, who lives on Royal Avenue and is familiar with the truck issues.
“I am not overly surprised, as are most of us. I am not happy about it. I just don’t want it to sound like we are trying to be NIMBYs. I think there are some valid concerns,” he said. “The way I look at it, the city is encouraging development along Royal. There are condos, there are schools, and at same time it is a heavily used truck corridor, not by their own doing.”
Although traffic has always been heavy on Royal Avenue, Lorenzi said he’s seen an increase in heavy trucks since tolls were introduced on the Port Mann Bridge.
“I support a tolled replacement to the Pattullo. I take it every day and I support it,” he said. “Let’s level the playing field. I think it’s got to be more fair and equitable.”
