B.C. promises solution to Annacis Island traffic short cut
Chad Pawson | CBC News | Posted: August 6, 2016 1:00 PM | Last Updated: August 6, 2016
Working group will include local business owners and politicians
Traffic cheats using Annacis Island as short cut around congestion on the Alex Fraser Bridge beware: the provincial government was struck a working group to find a way to put an end to the practice.
It has created a congestion nightmare for business operations for the largest industrial park in the Lower Mainland.
In a release Friday, Transportation Minister Todd Stone said it is, "unacceptable for people to divert onto Annacis Island as a short cut."
"Therefore, the ministry is taking action by forming a working group with the Corporation of Delta and local stakeholders to find traffic management solutions that will reduce congestions."
The promise of an eight to 10 person working group comes after several local businesses have complained since January about the way some commuters — often stuck in traffic on Highway 91 — take the Annacis Island off ramp, make a left turn into a parking lot and then rejoin the southbound traffic while skipping the backlog of traffic.
While it's not against the Motor Vehicle Act for drivers to make a U-turn in a business parking lot, police say they may be committing an offence with the actual left turn itself into the parking lot.
"All of the truckers that have to work on Annacis, I feel really bad for them," said Megan Larsen, vice-president with MasonLift. Her company will be part of the working group.
"I mean most of them, they're paid by the job and when they're spending hours just trying to get on and off the island, that's crazy."
Earlier in the year police in Delta cracked down on people taking the short cut by issuing $121 tickets and two demerit points, but that has not snuffed out the problem.
"It got really crazy a couple of months ago," said Larsen, who also told CBC that it sometime takes her employees up to one hour to get off the island during the evening commute.
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The ministry tried putting in pickets at the southbound merge onto Highway 91 from Annacis Island to deter traffic short-cutting by creating some delay, but that also impacted legitimate traffic on the island.
"As a result, the ministry has removed the pickets and will meet with the working group to explore other ways to help mitigate the diversion issues," it said as part of the release, which also mentions the ministry's multi-step plan to try and unclog congestion on the Alex Fraser Bridge and Highway 91.
Larsen hopes the working group moves fast; she says she's worried the problem will only get worse once the government begins work on the Massey Tunnel replacement in 2017.
Her solution is to ban non-local traffic from Annacis Island during rush hour by affixing devices to vehicles that belong and fining those who do not have them.
"It's obviously self-serving for Annacis Island employees," she said.