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Grandview - Woodland |
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Safety & Transportation—Assets |
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Assets 1. Skytrain Obvious assets of the Grandview Woodlands community are the Broadway/Commercial skytrain stations that act as “a transportation hub” (City of Vancouver, 2003) connecting Grandview Woodland community to other major landmarks such as Downtown Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Surrey. As it becomes a trend for Vancouver residents to travel to other cities to work, sky train station at Broadway/Commercial along with other stations allow consumers to travel safely and effectively at the same time slowing down traffic growth and thus, improve the neighbourhood environment (City of Vancouver, 2003). For consumers traveling within Vancouver the skytrain station acts as a linking point to frequently running buses such as the # 9 B-line and #9 that run along Broadway, and # 20 down Commercial Drive (Translink, 2005). Needless to say the skytrain stations at Broadway and Commercial provide consumer with easy accessibility to other major landmarks of Vancouver and other linked cities as well as help reduce auto-traffic on the roads which ultimately improves safety for pedestrians, bikers as well as drivers of the community. 2. Traffic Calming Project Another asset to the Grandview Woodlands area is the traffic calming project which helps to keep both safety of the drivers on the road as well as the pedestrians of the area. Short-cutting traffic has been a problem for certain sections of the neighborhood since 1980s, especially on Napier Street (City of Vancouver, 2006). Several plans had been suggested to ensure safety and flow of traffic up to 2005 but have failed and were asked to be recreate a plans (City of Vancouver, 2006). By February 14, 2006 traffic calming project was introduced and approved by Standing Committee of Transportation and Traffic on a trail basis and to be evaluated as time passes (City of Vancouver, 2006). Traffic calming has the intent of slowing down speed and reducing traffic volume by installing traffic circles, speed bumps, stop signs, corner bulges, partial diverters, signs, street closure as well as street narrowing (City of Vancouver, 2006). With tools such as these, streets such as Victoria, Napier, Venables and others in the Grandview Woodlands area are kept safer for both pedestrians as well as driver by slowing down traffic and keeping the smooth flow. 3. Anti Auto Theft Project According to police reports, in 2003 there were 18,000 cars were broken into in Vancouver (Vancouver Police, 2004). In February 2004, a project was put in place to reduce the numbers of car thefts. The project was carried out by members of District 2, the Provincial Auto Theft Task Force and volunteers from VPD Citizens Crime Watch to stop high risk young offenders on Commercial Drive area (Vancouver Police, 2004). This has made an impact as numerous stolen vehicles have been recovered along with $5,000 worth of stolen goods. It is reported that auto theft crimes in Grandview Woodlands area has reduced by 60% making the neighborhood a much safer place for people to park their cars (Vancouver Police, 2004). |
