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Rat runners beware: City of North Van to restrict Keith Road access from Cloverley ’hood

In a bid to end relentless rat-running through the Cloverley neighbourhood, the City of North Vancouver is making the area a bit harder to get into and a lot harder to get out of.
traffic calming

In a bid to end relentless rat-running through the Cloverley neighbourhood, the City of North Vancouver is making the area a bit harder to get into and a lot harder to get out of.

Starting at the end of this month, the city will make it impossible to turn onto Keith Road

from Adderley, Shavington and Heywood streets as well as lanes between them. Only Cloverley Street would allow them back out onto Keith.

The plan would also see new delineators installed on Hendry Avenue to prevent people from turning left onto Cloverley or Shavington.

For years, the city has been experimenting with various turn restrictions, one-way streets and barriers to dissuade commuters from trying to sneak around the notorious backups along Keith Road and East Third Street headed for the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing.

But each variation of the traffic calming plan only sent drivers looking for shortcuts along other streets, angering different subsets of the community. Unable to find consensus, the city hired an outside consultant in June to find a workable solution.

“The consultant’s report recommends physically restricting access to Keith Road as the only option to effectively address shortcutting through the neighbourhood. City staff recognize that this plan will increase resident travel time on a day-to-day basis, impacting residents closest to Keith Road the most,” a notice from the city states.

After six months, the city will assess how the changes have impacted traffic volumes, safety on local streets and residents’ access to their homes.

“Staff will determine whether the piloted measures should remain in place based on traffic volume, safety data, and community feedback,” the notice states.