Dear Editor:
I read two great articles this morning in the North Shore News. Jane Seyd’s piece, De-congestion Road Pricing up for Discussion, Oct. 29 and Brent Richter’s Maplewood Redevelopment Plan Nears Vote, Oct. 27. I only wish they had been consolidated into one article.
If the mobility pricing commission wants to analyze the North Shore’s traffic woes without looking at the prime cause – the unconstrained development free-for-all – then it’s simply engaging in more political theatre to appease voters, and maybe making a bit of extra income off drivers. It won’t fix the problem.
The Maplewood development will be particularly problematic given how the Ironworkers bridge and Maplewood area traffic are entangled every rush hour. More traffic snarls in Maplewood will strangle all of the North Shore. Developments here should be paused until developers can show that they have a viable solution to traffic issues. Bring in the SkyTrain, then develop. Planning ahead. Crazy idea.
If the developers want it badly enough, they’ll help subsidize the SkyTrain extension. Two problems can be better than one, as they can be used to solve each other.
Unfortunately, money talks louder than logic. But at some point we will get so congested here that nobody will be able to move, and then the solution will cost 10 times as much.
Other solutions to congestion could include getting rid of bike helmet laws so more people ride, bringing in thousands of public bike stations like Montreal so they’re a feasible mode of transport, legalizing lane splitting by motorbikes, etc. Maybe good ideas, maybe bad, but at least let’s try to think outside the box instead of getting stuck on a debate of tolls on, tolls off year in, year out.
Most of all, it would be great if city council planned ahead instead of always just reacting or chasing the immediate dollar.
Alexander Boldizar
North Vancouver
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