There are many factors that differentiate a big city from a small town, but there's one that immediately hits you over the head and stops you, quite literally, in your tracks. Traffic is the telltale sign you've gone from the calm to the congested, the undeniable reality you're no longer in Mayberry.
The taller buildings, the noise and the vibrancy are all signals you've crossed the line, but it's when it takes five minutes to travel two blocks that you become painfully aware of what life in the big city is all about.
Traffic, which has always been a contentious topic here in Delta, is back on the front burner these days thanks to a number of factors, including some ambitious development plans by the Tsawwassen First Nation. The TFN's two mega malls, as well as residential and industrial projects, will add thousands of vehicles to the roads everyday once they come to fruition.
Given the location of the malls (northwest corner of Highway 17 and 52nd Street), most of that traffic, which will be considerable, will travel almost exclusively on highways, much like the significant volumes generated by the ferry terminal and container port.
With yet another substantial traffic generator setting up shop here, locals that must commute will face even more competition for a piece of asphalt. The South Fraser Perimeter Road should help to some extent, as will road improvements being undertaken in conjunction with the malls, but more traffic typically means more waits, particularly when our state of-the-art highway system still features signal lights and when the capacity of the George Massey Tunnel remains status quo.
So, there's no getting around the fact it will be more congested on area highways, but what will the impacts be within the communities of Tsawwassen and Ladner?
There's a debate over whether shoppers coming to these parts for the TFN malls will also spend some of their disposable income in our existing commercial areas, which suggests these visitors, like their ferry-bound counterparts, could bypass our towns altogether. And if they do pay us a visit, should that traffic not be considered welcome, given it's likely here to drop a few bucks?
There's no denying the roads leading to and from our fair communities are about to get a lot more congested, and there will undoubtedly be some spillover as a result, but it doesn't appear what's taking place on the periphery means we'll be turning into a big city.
