The speed limit on Ladner Trunk Road could be reduced.
The city’s public safety committee recently discussed what to do about the narrow roadway, also known as Highway 10, following several accidents over the past few years.
Engineering director Steven Lan said his department collaborated with the city's transportation technical committee and Delta police to address safety concerns between 72nd Street and Highway 91.
Staff are proposing that the speed limit there be reduced from 80 km/h to 70 km/h.
Rumble strips are also proposed along the center line and shoulder lines, as well as raised paint markings and reflectors to improve visibility, reflective delineators alongside the ditches to mark the roadway and improved street lighting. The committee endorsed those recommendations which still have to go to council.
A committee member also pitched the idea of enclosing the ditches and widening Ladner Trunk Road to accommodate a farm lane, or at least have pullouts at various spots to allow traffic to safely pass and provide enforcement spots for police.
A Richmond couple was killed in an April 2016 single-vehicle crash in the 9600-block of Highway 10
One person was seriously hurt in a head-on crash on that stretch of road earlier this year but it’s not the only part of Ladner Trunk Road that has seen serious accidents.
In late 2016, a man was killed when his vehicle struck a truck parked at the side of the road in the 10400-block of Ladner Trunk Road and a few days later another driver was seriously hurt in a head-on collision with a semi between 80th and 96th streets.
Also that summer, a 17-year-old male from Langley died after a head-on collision with a dump trunk in 9800-block of Ladner Trunk Road, while a few months earlier a Richmond couple was killed in a single-vehicle crash when their car crossed the centre line and went into a ditch between 104th Street and the Highway 99 junction.
Two years ago, an internal review by Delta police looked at Ladner Trunk Road from the beginning of 2014 to November of 2016, focusing on the stretch from 96th Street to Scott Road where the majority of the collisions occurred. During that period there was a total of 44 crashes.
Distracted driving was among the contributing factors in several of the serious or fatal collisions, the review found.
