The City of Richmond has received complaints related to the realignment of River Road at the Dinsmore Bridge.
But relief may be on the way to alleviate the discombobulation of traffic.
The realignment is the result of a planned waterfront park from the Richmond Olympic Oval to Cambie Street.
Whereas once the road dipped under the bridge, it now intersects with Gilbert Road, adding a traffic light to a rapidly developing area. The complaints were addressed at the transportation committee last week.
According to Victor Wei, director of transportation, River Road will be widened to four lanes, which should reduce lineups.
Wei said staff are monitoring the intersection via traffic cameras, which can be viewed online by the public to plan routes.
Cameras on the rise
Such traffic cameras will become more prevalent throughout the city in order to give real-time traffic monitoring, given they refresh images on the city’s website every minute.
Over the past years, Richmond residents may have noticed a growing number of cameras up and down No. 2 Road, along Russ Baker Way and on parts of Granville Avenue.
According to city spokesman Ted Townsend the camera network will be expanded.
This fall, cameras will span Steveston Highway between Gilbert Road and No. 5 Road.
Each intersection costs $30-40,000 to have cameras installed.
Townsend said more will come as the city assesses traffic priorities.
The cameras detect approaching traffic and can alter the time of the light signals. City traffic operators can also alter the lights from a control room, said Townsend.
Over time, operators can set light signals to optimal settings based on traffic flow.
The cameras do not save images, as the city doesn’t have the necessary hardware, nor are they high resolution, so they don’t read license plates.
As such, the cameras are not useful witnesses for traffic accidents, said Townsend.
However, if the city should choose, the cameras are capable of recording and storing images and video, with the right hardware.
Townsend said such upgrades would be costly and, to date, the city has not developed policies surrounding legal issues pertaining to saving images and video.
Townsend said using cameras and in-ground detectors (those thin black lines in the road) compliment each system's strengths and weaknesses. For example, detectors can count cars more effectively, whereas cameras are less susceptible to damage, said Townsend.
