Editor: I read that Pythagoras once said, “Numbers have a way of taking a man by the hand and leading him down the path of reason.”
• Safety numbers: One might judge then, that since there has been a tremendous improvement in traffic flow achieved at 232nd Street and 56th Avenue since the roundabout was installed, and there are a reduced number of traffic accidents at that intersection, Township Council might seek advice from any futurist on Township staff and make intuitive decisions, and pursue construction of roundabouts, not stoplights along 16th Avenue.
• Money numbers: Besides the added pollution and associated health costs, inappropriately posted speed limits and saddling a flawed, crippling, archaic design idea on the 100,000 commuters of the region who rely on the road, the Township’s plan will rob commuters of precious family time and certainly pick the pockets of families whose wage earners are truck drivers.
By example, the only functioning gravel pit south of the Fraser is near the east end of 16th Avenue.
The dump truck drivers who are forced to use 16th will no longer be able to count on delivering a certain number of loads each day.
That number will be dramatically reduced as the vehicles will be forced to sit in the east-west traffic slug, depriving their family pocket books and the local economy of millions of dollars weekly.
Another thought from Pythagoras 2,600 years ago was “… the world is not flat, it’s round.”
Naysayers about the world being round, still exist in society today.
Traffic roundabouts are an idea like the world being round.
The naysayers are stuck in the old world idea saying, “We need more stoplights on 16th.”
Langley Township Council can and should do better, for the benefit of all those in the region.
Bryn Jones, Aldergrove
