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Langley residents concerned with traffic safety

Spate of gravel truck crashes has people calling for changes along 16 Avenue
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Residents along 16 Avenue want safety changes on the busy road or more police enforcement of gravel trucks that speed along the busy stretch. There have been several dump trucks that have flipped along the road in the past few weeks, closing parts of 16 Avenue.

Another gravel truck was involved in a crash on 16 Avenue, this time near 200 Street, on Aug. 15 at noon.

Two days earlier, there was a multi-vehicle pile-up on the busy road.

On Aug. 7, a gravel truck flipped onto its side and into a ditch near 248 Street on 16 Avenue, causing major traffic delays for hours as it took some time to pull it out.

The road is a direct route for gravel trucks bringing and taking loads from pits in Abbotsford, the main hub for soil and gravel in the Lower Mianland.

This busy road is also a popular horse trailer route.

Many residents are calling for safety changes on the busy road or more police enforcement of gravel trucks that speed.

Some are suggesting roundabouts might improve things.

This road became an alternative for many more vehicles once the Township installed speed humps on Zero Avenue.

Langley RCMP say they are challenged to do speed enforcement, by the design of the road.

There is no shoulder along 16 Avenue so it’s very unsafe for officers to do speed traps.

There also isn’t anywhere to pull the trucks over.

Even people’s driveways prove difficult, said police.

But police recognize there needs to be something done along 16 Avenue.

It may come down to the Township looking at more ways to make the road safer.

The Township has installed flashing lights at all major intersections along the road in recent years.



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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