‘A traffic nightmare’: Drivers stuck in Oakridge Mall parking lots for hours
Posted October 19, 2019 4:08 pm.
Last Updated October 20, 2019 1:58 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — George was among many who spent hours on Saturday afternoon stuck in a mall parking lot
He pulled into the Oakridge Cantre parking lot Saturday afternoon, hoping to get in and out quickly. Nearly two hours later he said he had barely moved.
“It appears to be absolute traffic chaos,” he tells NEWS 1130. “It’s taken us an hour and a half just winding our way through the parking garage trying to get out and off the property and we’re nowhere near being off.”
Frustrated listeners began calling in to NEWS 1130 around 3 p.m. to report hours long delays.
“It’s leading to a rather testy attitude of people in the parking lot,” according to George. “Tempers are flaring.”
Heads up if you're trying to get to @Oakridgestyle. The mall parking lots are a complete mess right now. Just spoke to one man who has been stuck for 1.5 hours, and is no where near close to getting out of the area. This is due to construction near the mall. @NEWS1130
— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) October 19, 2019
But George wants staff to do more. He has called security several times.
“We haven’t seen one soul,” he says. “Get people here directing traffic, making people feel a bit better about the whole thing.”
A spokesperson says the issue was due to work being done by the City of Vancouver on 41st Avenue and that delays were resolved by about 5: 30 p.m.
“Once the Oakridge operations team was advised today, we worked to redirect traffic to Cambie. It was an unfortunate scenario and we regret the significant inconvenience.”
