Correspondence from S. & B. Grigg Re: Early Morning Traffic on Rudyard Road

Re: Early Morning Traffic on Rudyard Road

March 6, 2013

To the Mayor & Council:

Hello,

We are home owners on Rudyard Road and have lived here for 4 years now. Since moving here we have experienced an ebb and flow of early morning traffic on our road as commuters make a prohibited turn off of Helmcken to bypass the congestion at the Island Highway intersection. Over the years the frequency of this traffic has been affected by several factors: local road construction (Admirals bridge repair, the work on Island Highway), school in session & commuter volume in general.

As you are aware, making a left hand turn onto Rudyard is restricted between 6:30 – 8:15am, however a minimum of 40 cars every morning between the hours of 6:30 & 7:20am make this turn. As commuters ourselves using local transit, we are unaware of what traffic travels after that time. At various times in the past the RCMP have patrolled the area and ticketing has reduced the frequency and regularity with which drivers choose this route to dodge traffic. It always seems that their periodic presence kept the behaviour controlled and tolerable.

The reason we are writing is two fold. Firstly, the number of cars has increased lately and the ‘rat runners’ seem quite impatient which has resulted in them racing up Stormont at estimated speeds of 55-60km to make the light; on several occassions one particular driver has run the red light. Not only is this a 30km zone, the safety risk to the unsuspecting drivers &/or pedestrians on Island Highway is unacceptable. Although the town of View Royal has bylaws regarding traffic flow, we rely on the West Shore RCMP to enforce these restrictions. These days the usual calls to the RCMP have not brought any response as in the past. We have made a few calls as have our neighbours – no call backs, no patrols, resulting in the same vehicles morning after morning choosing Rudyard as their preferred route to skirt the traffic.

Therefore we are asking for the Mayor and Council to take action to improve the relationship between bylaw and enforcement to bring the intended result; which is to keep traffic flowing, calm it and keep View Royal livable and not just a ‘cut through’ community.

Secondly, we are asking you to have an eye on this before the construction on the Craigflower Bridge begins as that will likely redirect more volume of traffic to Helmcken and therefore make Rudyard & Stormont that much more vulnerable to this cut through traffic.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns and we are happy to answer any questions if a better understanding is required. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and most importantly an improved management of the problem.

Regards,

Sharon and Bentley Grigg