District of Squamish will revisit a Valleycliffe intersection after a local citizen raised concern over speeding in the area.
Gary Buxton, the General Manager of Community Planning and Infrastructure, said the district would have another look at the Guildford and Valley Drive intersection.
“The prior alignment allowed for people to go through the intersection with little speed reduction. We will go back out and revisit what was done, and consider what might be done further to help manage driver behaviour,” Buxton said.
Buxton was responding to the concerns raised by Valleycliffe resident and mother of two, Tocha Copeland.
Copeland said she was concerned about speeding and reckless driving on Valley Drive, particularly on the intersection on Guilford and Valley Drive.
“Yesterday I watched as a neighbor’s whole family (mother, father and 18-month-old child) narrowly escaped being struck by a car while crossing Valley Drive in the crosswalk,” she said.
“This is only one of many close calls, excessive speeding and careless disregard of the lane divides at the intersection. Many drivers speed excessively on the way to the hwy. We have many young kids and adults accessing the dyke trails on foot and by bike.”
Tocha said she had narrowly avoided head on collisions at the intersection while turning right onto Guilford. The traffic situation is further exacerbated by the fact that extra traffic is being directed to Valley Drive due to the construction at the Guilford and Clarke Drive intersection.
“Please consider lowering the speed limit, adding speed bumps, doing something at the intersection to keep people from cutting the turn. Putting in more signage to slow down. Please help us keep our kids, neighbors, pets and parked cars safe,” she said.
Copeland said she would like to add that she was grateful to those who did use caution on the intersection, stopped for the crosswalk, slowed down and moved over when they see people, especially children, on the sidewalk.
Buxton said the district did recently reconfigure the intersection, but would have another look at how it can improve it.
