I would like to comment on George Leon’s recent letter in the Now, Coquitlam regarding the Fremont Connector decision, in which he states that “Port Coquitlam council is suggesting Cedar Drive as the best option,” urging them to reconsider the “right-of-way” option.
By all appearances this decision has not yet been made, however. I attended the recent public meeting on this matter at Hyde Creek Recreational Center, in which it was clear to me that Council is not in fact suggesting Cedar Drive as “the best” option, merely “an” option.
The actual decision, including due consideration of the right-of-way option, is still in play, and will be so at least until the on-going public-input phase is completed.
Although Cedar Drive was, as stated, given as “an” option, my own feeling is that it is there, and future traffic flows estimated for it, in recognition that if we fail to develop a suitable alternative all that expected new traffic will — by default — wind up on Cedar Drive, whether we like it or not. I suspect that no-one, council included, really wants that.
While I don’t live right on Cedar Drive, I do live nearby, and often use it. I share in the concern over the projected greatly increased traffic burden that will accrue there, if we do nothing. We have to take our destiny in our own hands and settle on, and develop, a better alternative.
On balance, of the other two options presented, and with apologies to the residents adjacent to the BC Hydro right-of-way: north of Prairie, I, too, support this option; it off-loads traffic from Cedar Drive, and is least intrusive on the Agricultural Land Reserve — a valuable and limited resource that will be subjected to ever increasing development pressures in the coming years, which pressures we must resist in order to preserve our quality of life in Port Coquitlam as a whole.
South of Prairie, I support the realignment of Burns Road to meet-up with whichever north-of-Prairie option is chosen — if this is the BC Hydro right-of-way, the consequent close proximity to the Fremont / Prairie intersection presents a new problem, though a traffic circle here would likely easily resolve this.
