‘Safest way forward’: Pitt Meadows removes two roundabouts on arterial roadway

The City of Pitt Meadows, B.C., has removed two roundabouts from an arterial roadway in the interests of public safety, according to its mayor.

The roundabouts on Airport Way at Bonson and Harris roads fall along a trucking route and have been replaced with signaled lights due to rapid growth in the Metro Vancouver municipality and its vehicle traffic.

“An assessment was done and it was determined for all user safety, primarily pedestrians and cyclists, as well as a combination of vehicles, residential and commercial, it was the safest way forward,” Nicole MacDonald told Global News.

“What we’ve found is that over the past few years, there has been a number of accidents.”

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According to Ridge Meadows RCMP, there were 31 collisions at Airport Way and Harris Road, and 27 at Airport Way and Bonson Road, between 2018 and 2022.

In 2021, a cyclist was killed in a collision with a dump truck at the Harris Road and Airport Way roundabout.

Erin O’Melinn, executive director of HUB Cycling, said she was pleased with the removal of two roundabouts that “have a poor safety history.”

“The new traffic signals are a safety improvement,” O’Melinn said Friday. “They give people more certainty around when they’re supposed to go and where, and there’s less uncertainty about what angles they’re moving at.”

As a cyclist herself, she added, she feels safer in intersections than in roundabouts, where she’s never sure whether drivers are looking for cyclists or have seen her.

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According to the 2021 census, Pitt Meadows has a population of more than 19,000 people.

MacDonald said one of the growing city’s key traffic challenges are the “chokepoints” where its two of its arterial roadways leading in and out are blocked by railway operations. The municipality is advocating for an underpass on Harris Road to remedy them, she added.

For the moment, the mayor said two other roundabouts off the Golden Ears Bridge will remain in place.

“They are under a study that is actually TransLink’s jurisdiction and responsibility,” MacDonald explained.

“The city has been advocating, and in extensive communications with Katzie First Nation, as well as other stakeholders and TransLink to look at the future of that. We’re also hugely advocating for secondary access to Katzie First Nation, all in conjunction with that Golden Ears corridor there.”

According to ICBC, roundabouts improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, improve traffic flow and reduce the odds of serious injury because “essentially eliminate the chance of a head-on collision or a crash involving a left turn.”