Letter: Roundabout errors can be corrected
Monday, October 29, 2012
I have read with interest letters about Vancouver over-landscaping roads and then not being able to maintain them. I was injured by trees along 162nd Northeast Avenue that have 3-inch thorns. I called the city maintenance department and was told they did not have funding to keep limbs from encroaching on sidewalks and bike paths.
Now the landscape planners have erred again. When they built the roundabout in our neighborhood on Northeast 49th Street, we were excited about the more effective traffic control, except they built a 3-foot-tall dirt/concrete center, then landscaped it with dense vegetation including trees that will be 20 feet or taller. Some are now dying from lack of maintenance.
The roundabout landscape and concrete wall will eventually violate Vancouver Municipal Code 20.985.020 "There shall be no sight obstruction between 30" and 10' above the street grade within vision clearance." We often see broken glass at this intersection and know this is a traffic hazard. Camas built several effective roundabouts less than a foot high. With three new roundabouts being built on Northeast 137th Avenue, I ask the city of Vancouver to remove obstructing foliage and not use this design on the new roundabouts.
Rik Roberts
Vancouver
