Opponents of a plan to drastically change the layout of a section of
43rd Avenue in Vernon are keeping up their pressure to get the city to
drop the idea. The City of Vernon calls it a "road diet." A typical road diet converts a four-lane undivided roadway to a
three-lane roadway with the three lanes being made up of two travel
lanes and a centre two-way left turn lane. The remaining existing road space then can be used for parking,
landscaping, bike lanes, new or widening of sidewalks, or a combination
of these features. Earlier this week, Harald Kober of Roko's Service and Gary Krieger of
Tireland, presented a petition with over 1,000 signatures protesting the
idea to Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert. "He was excited to receive the petition," says Kober. "He was excited
to have the citizens have a voice and he said that voice will definitely
be heard at council." Vernon council meets October 11 and the group expects to have the issue addressed again at that meeting. The pair are representing a number of business's along 43rd Avenue that
fear the plan to reduce the number of lanes on the route as well as the
addition of bicycle lanes well negatively affect their business. "There was 44 businesses that had the petition," says Kober. "They were
out Monday of last week and we called them in on Tuesday, so, in
essence, a week. we had a phenomenal response." The group had earlier staged a demonstration against the project that slowed down traffic near the area.
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