Port Moody council wants to see traffic problems on Murray Street at Rocky Point Park fixed as soon as possible, ideally before summer crowds clog the area with cars and pedestrians.
At its meeting Tuesday, council directed staff to report back with the costs and timeline to implement a number of changes by July to improve the movement of cars at the Moody roundabout and Murray Street intersection as well as at the entrances to the parking lot for Rocky Point Park, while also making it safer for pedestrians crossing between the park and Brewers Row.
In a report presented to council, Mayor Mike Clay said the growing popularity of the area, combined with more development to the east in the Klahanie and Suter Brook neighbourhoods, has led to heavy congestion and greater frustration among motorists and pedestrians.
“The number of complaints and concerns from residents around the Moody Street/Murray Street intersection have increased dramatically over the past few years,” Clay said in his report.
He said the nice spring weather on recent weekends has already caused “chaos” and with the full range of summer programming at the park, like festivals, concerts, children’s summer camps, as well as sailing, kayaking and swimming lessons, yet to begin, “conditions will continue to deteriorate.”
In his report, Clay identified several ideas for improvement including:
• adding a traffic signal at the eastern entrance to the Rocky Point Park parking lot;
• moving the pedestrian crossing at that entrance to the western end of the parking lot, near the Moody overpass;
• reprogramming the pedestrian signal with a delay to allow vehicles to move through instead of the current signal which activates immediately when pedestrians push the button;
• signalized traffic control at the intersection of Murray Street and the Moody roundabout, instead of the current yield sign that Clay said causes confusion;
• and adding a “Yield to oncoming left turn” sign for motorists heading westbound on Murray Street at the Moody Street intersection.
Clay said while most of those changes have already been identified in the city’s master transportation plan, the city can no longer wait to implement them because the entrance area of the parking lot is becoming dangerous.
“We need to say we need this area fixed and we want it done now,” he said.
