Better signage at bottom of Summit Connector long overdue

WEDNESDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — It was mentioned only very briefly at Tuesday’s City council meeting, but it will make a big difference to drivers.

The City has plans to improve the signage at the bottom of the Summit Connector. “It’s not intuitive,” a public works staffer told council in reference to the connector’s configuration and signage at the bottom of the hill.

No kidding. The Connector has been a thorn in the side of drivers since it was built in the late 1970s. At the time, it was something of a marvel, providing a much-needed alternative to the Columbia Street hill for getting from the valley bottom to Sahali.

Especially for those travelling to and from the North Shore, it’s a time-saver. But it has its problems. The hairpin curve halfway down is troublesome. When the city’s population grows by another 25,000 or so, the Connector will be extended from that corner onto a new Singh Street Bridge, but that’s a long way off.

In the meantime, two lanes narrow to one at the curve from both directions — necessary to slow traffic for safety reasons, but the source of many complaints from drivers over the years.

The Connector has seen its share of accidents, including some fatalities. But it’s at the lighted intersection at the bottom where confusion reigns.

There, drivers must figure out whether to cross over into the next lane before or after the light so they can go up, down and around or down, up and sideways depending on whether they’re heading to the North Shore or downtown.

It’s been that way ever since new on- and off-ramps were built on the south side. There are engineering standards and rules of the road that had to be followed, of course, but that doesn’t make it any easier on drivers. Even long-time residents have trouble at that intersection.

Better signage isn’t a cure but it will be help the symptoms.

In 1989, a 30-year-old Alberta trucker named Travis Penner was coming down the highway toward town when his brakes gave out. Because of the unusually gradual swing at the exit Penner didn’t realize he was hurtling onto Columbia Street and into a heavily populated area.

As he approached the intersection of Columbia and Third Avenue where cars were stacked up several deep, he courageously steered his semi up onto the grassy area in front of Royal Inland Hospital. It cost him his life but he saved the lives of many others.

After the accident, the highway exit was examined and it was decided it didn’t need to be reconstructed. Instead, better signage was erected and there have been no similar tragedies since.

Good signage can make all the difference.