Clarke Road was fully re-opened Wednesday afternoon, less than a week after its southbound lanes were closed because of a third sinkhole that formed over the Evergreen Line tunnel boring machine.
The sinkhole developed on April 9 at Clarke and Seaview Drive, and the closure of half of Clarke sent traffic through the quiet residential streets of Glenayre and College Park.
At Tuesday's council meeting, several residents expressed concerns about the safety of pedestrians in those areas, particularly children walking to school, noting that traffic controllers seemed to be rushing cars through at the expense of pedestrians.
And although Evergreen Line project director Amanda Farrell said Clarke would be fully re-opened by the end of the week, Coun. Robert Vagramov made a motion for an emergency "local-traffic only zone" that would remove the detour and require the Evergreen Line project team to implement alternating traffic on the remaining two lanes of Clarke, effective immediately.
Neal Carley, general manager of engineering and parks, said developing a new traffic management plan requires trained traffic management professionals working with EGRT, emergency services, Coast Mountain Bus Company and the cities of Port Moody and Coquitlam. The provincial government gives final approval for the plan before it can be implemented. Carley said officials would be working on the new plan on Wednesday morning to hopefully have it in place by the afternoon rush hour.
But by 4 p.m. on Wednesday Clarke Road was deemed safe for travel and all four lanes were in use.
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