‘Explosion of activity’ at popular Coquitlam trail getting on last nerves of residents in the area

COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) — Cones are a necessity, according to neighbours near a popular Coquitlam trail, who say they’ve essentially become traffic directors.

Some residents say they are frustrated that their private driveways are becoming common-use for the public, especially as people flock to the Coquitlam Crunch trail.

“We’ve barricaded ourselves with safety cones, we’ve all acquired safety cones just to have some peace and quiet,” Andrea Huszar-Wolff tells CityNews.

Huszar-Wolff has lived near the popular trail for 20 years and says she’s never seen such a busy season.

“March 17th the flood gates opened and since then we have not had one day of peace.”

And now, neighbours have been overwhelmed by drivers making U-turns on their properties, or even use their driveways as parking spots.

Concerns are rising, particularly among those neighbours who have kids playing in their front driveway.

“One day when the cones weren’t up a car comes in the kids were standing right there and they didn’t move because they were shocked, and the driver starts yelling at the kids because they didn’t move out of the way so he could complete his U-turn,” Huszar-Wolff says.

Since there is a no-charge parking lot for visitors of the Crunch nearby, Huszar-Wolff says she would like to see the road be resident parking only.

After hearing complaints from neighbours, the City of Coquitlam says it will put up signs in the next couple weeks, asking drivers not to make U-turns in private driveways.

But keeping road-parking for residents-only is not up for discussion.

“We typically haven’t been banning any on-street parking where we have a proper parking lane. In this case, we have space and it isn’t restricting traffic so it is appropriate use,” explains Jamie Boan, the GM of engineering and public works with the City of Coquitlam.

Ultimately Huszar-Wolff feels the city should have planned ahead to prevent this kind of crowding.

“We all agree it’s definitely because of COVID. There were less things to do, but also the city was actively promoting the Crunch, so those two things combined have created an explosion of activity.”