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Arden Elementary Green Team asking for infrastructure changes to Lake Trail Road

Changes to Lake Trail Road near Arden Elementary School are being requested to make active transportation safer for students.

The recommendations are being proposed by the school’s Green Team. They say that because roads around the school are narrow with little to no shoulder along with higher speed limits and other factors cause the majority of students to be driven to school.

They add Lake Trail Road is the area of greatest concern, and police were concerned about the amount of speeding seen on the road during a walkabout.

The group has five recommendations for upgrades, with an emphasis on speed humps:

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  1. Installation of at least two speed humps in the school zone
  2. Lowering the speed limit between Lake Trail Community School and Arden Elementary School from 50 kilometres per hour to 30 kilometres per hour
  3. Extension of the school zone and road markings at its start and finish
  4. Adding a speed reader board
  5. Creating raised crosswalks

“If council could only fulfill one of our requests from today, we ask that it would be the installation of speed humps in our school zone,” said the group. “Our safety audit found that too many vehicles are driving too through our school zone during peak times.

“Speed humps have been the most requested infrastructure improvements by our Arden families.”

They add speed humps are shown to slow traffic down the most out of their recommendations. Dropping speeds from 50 kilometres per hour to 30 kilometres per hour decreases fatal injury collisions by 45 per cent.

Injuries to vulnerable people, such as children, were reduced by 55 per cent, according to the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering.

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The group feels extending the school zone will mean drivers will not have to slow down unnecessarily, the speed reader board would help drivers in the transition from faster to slower speeds, and the raised crosswalks would mostly benefit children from kindergarten to Grade 3.

Data and suggestions were referenced in the BC Community Road Safety Toolkit.

Councillor David Frisch said the suggestions raise questions for all school zones in the city. Frisch asked if lane narrowing could be an alternative as speed humps are always affecting traffic, even when school is not in session.

Council will be looking at the suggestions from the group to decide what is feasible to be implemented before making any decisions.

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