The Corporation of Delta is spending loads of money on rearranging the intersection of 116 Street and 72 Avenue. The citizens of Delta bought four properties and two perfectly good houses on those properties will be destroyed.
How much you ask? I suspect it will be well over $2 million when all is said and done, but all it really needed was a few simple changes like a “no stopping” section in front of the light for westbound traffic on 72nd. This would allow room for northbound traffic on 116th to turn left.
If the city had observed what goes on at this intersection, they would see the constant running of the red light eastbound on 72nd. No wonder it has its share of accidents. Where’s the enforcement by the police if this is such a high-crash area? Why not time the traffic lights so that eastbound traffic gets a red light one or two seconds sooner? Removing some of the smaller trees blocking visibility would also help. Safety comes first, but let’s plant one tree for each that is taken down.
Trying to find the trail of this issue in the council minutes online is next to impossible. How about some transparency on these projects? Council has opted for a solid gold solution and it would be interesting to know why but we can only speculate. I propose that if council wants to approve such extravagant projects, then I’ll approve austerity measures for council, the mayor and chief administrative officer.
Jason Lewko, Delta