Dear Editor,
[RE: LETTER: Maple Ridge traffic circle a potential ‘death trap’, Oct. 19, mapleridgenews.com]
I just wanted to add my own two cents to the issue of traffic circles in Maple Ridge, including the one on 123rd Avenue, and the proposed one on 124th Avenue and 224th Street.
When the one on 123rd Avenue was first installed, you could tell it would only become a bigger issue as time went on – and it has.
The shuttle buses cannot even do their half circle properly as the street is just nowhere near wide enough for a traffic circle.
Now, the city wants to put up a traffic circle on 124th Avenue and 224th Street, when there is already enough problems with it being a four-way stop.
Hardly anyone pays attention to the stop signs as it is, both 124th Avenue and 224th Street are race tracks for speeders looking to avoid Abernethy Way and Dewdney Trunk Road, where police are more likely to be watching.
The city needs to reconsider its most likely “cheaper approach” and start thinking of the lives it can save and accidents it can avoid with better approaches – such as a traffic light at 124th Avenue and 224th Street, and other areas.
Maybe, 123rd Avenue would not benefit from a traffic light there. But the traffic circle is definitely not working either.
Maybe it’s time speed bumps make more of a come back, combined with traffic lights or stop signs –depending on the situation.
Chris Mulvena, Maple Ridge
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