East Vancouver school fighting for speed limits along Commercial Drive

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A private school on Commercial Drive is feeling ignored by the City of Vancouver.

Back in May, city councillors voted to turn a portion of Commercial Drive into a European-style street, complete with parklets and wider sidewalks, in order to transform the arterial into something more pedestrian-friendly.

Ultimately, the councillors who put the motion together envision a 30 km/hr speed limit between Venables and Broadway.

The plans came as a shock to staff and parents at Stratford Hall, located at East 14th and Commercial. For years the school with an enrolment of over 500 had lobbied for the very speed limits now in the works for the portion of the Drive directly to the north.

“We think that the Commercial Drive corridor doesn’t end at Broadway. We think that if you’re considering a change in traffic regulations, you have to consider the community that extends south of Broadway,” says Dean Croy, head of the kindergarten-to-Grade-12 school.

Croy notes students aren’t the only ones crossing the intersections at East 14th and East 15th, given a large and popular park is on the west side of that portion of the Drive.

“The amount of children, families, elderly, and cyclists that use our area of Commercial Drive for both our school and Clark Park, demonstrates traffic ought to be slowed.”

He says the school community had brought up the issue with the city many times, but he says they were met with resistance, as the city considered Commercial a major traffic arterial.

That’s when they decided to work with the police in setting up traffic monitoring and speed checks.

Back in 2017, before Croy came to the school, students in Grade 5 and 10 collected traffic data to add urgency to their lobbying efforts. It partially paid off.

“They achieved success in having a crosswalk installed with a flashing light at East 15th. I can’t imagine what the speed of the traffic was like prior to the crossing light. Cars have to quickly put their brakes on when they see flashing lights and children.”

There may be a ray of hope for the school. Roughly a month after councillors voted on the “High Street” concept for the northern part of Commercial, councillors unanimously endorsed a review of “traffic patterns, sight lines, speed and collision history along Commercial Drive between East 12th and East 22nd.” That same motion directed staff to consult with the community about the possibility of reducing the speed limit to 30 km/hr and improved signage near Stratford Hall.

“The main issue for us is the current speed limit is 50, school zones in the city are 30, plus we have a major park across the school, so it warrants a slower speed limit,” says Croy.

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