Dear Editor:
In response to Mark Steunenberg's letter (On Keith, Common Sense Takes the Wheel, July 15), I can't see how changing the configuration on East Keith Road to one uphill lane in order to reduce speeding can do anything but improve the safety and wellbeing of everyone on or near the road. During the brief one-lane period, I found that turning onto Keith from the side streets became safer due to the more predictable speed and pattern of uphill traffic.
Improvements to the neighbourhood are long overdue. The district has done very little to allow residents to walk or cycle safely to the many nearby stores, services and parks. Keith Road does have a hill, but this is North Vancouver. My parents did much of their grocery shopping by foot until they were well into their seventies.
It was a happy day in my mother's life when Park & Tilford mall was built and she was able to walk to shops instead of always having to rely on a car. Every time someone like her chooses to travel by foot or bike, they take a little bit of the load off the environment, alleviate some traffic congestion, and reduce the tax burden for everyone by staying healthier and lessening wear on the roads.
The bike lane would also have provided a nice buffer for pedestrians, making walking safer and more appealing. For anyone taking the bus, it would have meant that instead of running across three lanes of traffic to get to the stop on the opposite side, since there would only be two lanes to cross. It would have had minimal impact on travel time for cars, and it would have cost next to nothing.
We've been let down by council's decision. What's the point of paying for two separate traffic studies and then ignoring both? None of this makes sense to me.
Anita Leonhard North Vancouver
