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Municipal:: North Lougheed corridor developer to work past roadblock. 3
Maple Ridge: Fern Cres. residents oppose homes. 10
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Maple Ridge councillor supports idea By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Reducing the number of drug overdoses may not be as simple as just changing the days when people get their income assistance cheques. But it’s an idea worth trying in an attempt to keep money from burning holes in people’s pockets, according to a new study and a local councillor. “One of the triggers for someone trying to stay clean is if they get a lot of money in their hands. I can say that definitely is a trigger for some people,” says Annika Polegato, executive-director with Alouette Addictions Services in Maple Ridge. See Welfare, 15
Ride on Bianca Hombrebueno (middle) cheers for the Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast members during a visit to St. Patrick’s School on Wednesday morning. The tour, 900 kilometres from Maple Ridge to the Sunshine Coast, concluded Thursday and has raised $250,000 so far. Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
How about overpass at Allen Way? Pitt Coun. Bruce Bell wants city to look at an alternative to Harris Rd. By M o ni s ha M ar tin s mmartins@mapleridgenews.com
A Pitt Meadows councillor wants the city to consider an alternative to an overpass at Harris Road and Lougheed Highway to relieve traffic congestion. Coun. Bruce Bell has suggested
constructing an interchange, or fly-over, further west at Allen Way, and said the idea was discussed in earnest for the first time this past week during a meeting with the province at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in Whistler. “We don’t know how seriously they are considering it,” said Bell, adding it’s a start. “Allen Way is in the mix, but we don’t know what they will say.” The Lougheed corridor, which is under provincial jurisdiction,
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accommodates the highconditions during peak est traffic volumes in Pitt hours, experiencing sigMeadows, with up to nificant delays and bum60,000 vehicles a day. per-to-bumper traffic As growth in neighbourduring the morning and ing municipalities continevening rush hours. ues, the number of vehiKey to relieving congescles traveling through Pitt tion along the highway Meadows will increase, acis an interchange at Harcording to the transportaris Rd., in addition to the tion master plan, released Coun. Bell North Lougheed Connecearlier this year. tor, states the report. Currently, the highway intersecThe intersection is also the worst tions at Harris and Kennedy roads in the city for accidents, logging are operating at or near failing 539 crashes from 2009 to 2013, ac-
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cording to ICBC statistics. Bell believes that the city would be better served by looking at Allen Way than Harris Rd. The plan would entail extending Allen Way, past the Westfair Food yard towards McMyn Road and include an overpass above the railway tracks. The city wouldn’t have to expropriate land that is already developed along Harris Rd., or move a high-pressure natural gas pipe line near McDonald’s, or relocate a heritage building. See Overpass, 3
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