Improvements are coming – eventually -- to a narrow country road in Ladner.
For almost 20 years residents have raised concerns about the condition of 36th Avenue as well as the truck traffic heavily using it. Having successfully lobbied for a 30 km/h truck speed limit years ago, the problems continue.
In a letter to Delta council, 36A Avenue resident Michael Hall conveyed concerns about speeding trucks but also the condition of the road, noting the roadway is severely worn out.
“Your crews are very good about showing up to patch reopened potholes, but the surface is now made up of fissured and crumbled chunks of tired asphalt joined by patch compound and literally no substrate worthy of supporting the weight or volume of the traffic pounding down this avenue each and every day,” he wrote.
A recent engineering department report acknowledged residents last fall again expressed their concerns over the volume of semi-trucks that use 36th Avenue to access the greenhouses on 46A Street and the speed at which they travel on the roadways.
Delta police undertook 31 spot speed checks, issuing 34 tickets to trucks as well as other vehicles not adhering to the 50 km/h limit. Delta police also undertook commercial vehicle inspections together with the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Branch on 36th Avenue and issued a couple of tickets.
The report also notes that while general traffic has increased on the road, truck traffic has remained relatively the same since 2002.
Given the pavement has deteriorated over the past 20 years, the report, which was endorsed by council, states it’s now necessary to address the problem through rehabilitation. However, given the road is just 12 metres wide, staff has proposed a marginal increase in road width. Engineering director Steven Lan told council that widening the road further could encourage more to speed.
The budget for the project is estimated at $850,000.
