VANCOUVER - Residents living near Nanaimo Street in East Vancouver say they are afraid for their children's safety because of a dramatic increase in container truck traffic along their street.
"They speed, they slide through the yellow lights, they're unable to stop," said Bethan Stewart, who lives in the area and has two young children. "Trucks are a reality of life, but not these huge container trucks.
The group is urging the city to step up enforcement of traffic bylaws in an attempt to get container trucks out of their neighbourhood, and hoping that Port Metro Vancouver will reopen its Clark Drive entrance, which was closed last year.
Andrea Bell, who lives right on the corner of Charles and Nanaimo streets, said when she moved in she expected some noise from the street.
"It has considerably got louder. We love it here, but the neighbourhood doesn't have the same community feel that it did," said Bell, who was carrying her two-year-old daughter Eire.
"It's scary and I worry about [Eire's] safety," said Bell, adding that sometimes her daughter will hide between her legs because she is scared by the sound of a truck's brakes.
Resident and NPA park board candidate Dave Pasin, who organized the gathering along with NPA city council candidate Joe Caranji, said the trucks speed, they're loud and they cause shaking that he fears will cause property damage and damage to infrastructure under the street.
Pasin called on his neighbours to complain to City Hall every time they heard a large truck using its engine brakes, or sees a truck speeding down Nanaimo.
The truckers are trying to find a shorter, less congested route to the port entrance at McGill and Commissioner. The port closed the Clark Drive entrance at Powell Street last year, to reduce traffic congestion. Tony Benincasa, Port Metro Vancouver's manager of logistics and operations, said the trucks on Clark were causing backups and delays because of traffic light issues at Hastings Street and conflicts with rail congestion within the port lands.
The port recommended truckers coming from Richmond and Delta use Marine Drive and Boundary Road to access McGill/Commissioner. It also said they could use a truck route along Clark to Powell and Dundas, Benincasa said.
But a couple of months ago, truckers started using the closer route along Nanaimo to McGill.
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