East Vancouver residents frustrated by ongoing truck traffic detour

Residents in Vancouver's Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood are calling on the Port of Vancouver to put a stop to loud container trucks detouring by their homes after years of disruptive noise and engine smoke.

The ongoing detours date back to 2010 and 2011. The neighbours say they were promised the change would be temporary. Now they're realizing it might be permanent.

"The container trucks are just blasting through the road, going uphill, revving their engines, shaking the building, rattling the windows," said Hastings-Sunrise resident Carlo Sombero. 

"And it's just very triggering, especially when it comes to our health, because we're breathing in pollution."

"I think we're betrayed, sort of," said Rosemarie Sombero, Carlo's mom. "Because we trust[ed] a compromise with that temporary thing, temporary traffic [detour] — and later, it's kind of dissolved."

Clark Drive ramp closures

Northbound trucks used to use the Clark Drive ramp at the Port of Vancouver, bypassing much of the adjacent neighbourhood using Commissioner Street.

But for years, trucks have been taking a different route.

Residents say the container trucks now come north along Powell and Dundas streets and then Nanaimo to McGill streets.

According to a city report, the Clark Drive ramp initially closed in August 2010. By spring 2011, complaints about container trucks in the neighbourhood rose.

Michelle Brown-Colistro, a mother living on Dundas, said she's concerned about the dangers of truck traffic in the area.

"Just the other day I saw a truck run a red light," Brown-Colistro said. "I witnessed a car accident last year, where a container truck drove over a small sedan, so the safety implications for this community with young children are huge."

Residents say they want the Clark Drive entrance open again.

The Port of Vancouver didn't make someone available for an interview, but in a statement told CBC News the entrance doesn't work anymore for inbound trucks, and "is physically constrained for surge capacity or truck queues, which is often needed due to rail crossings and peak congestion times."

It said the existing setup has improved traffic, emissions and truck staging, and most truck activity is on weekdays in the daytime.

Residents may have to endure trucks until the fall

Vancouver's transportation director, Paul Storer, says it's ultimately up to the port to decide how it uses its gates.

"If there is a way to work with the port to reduce the number of trucks there, whether that's opening the Clark Drive entry or some other way, we'll look at that," said Storer.

He said the Clark Drive entry was reopened between 2014-2019, but it has since been closed again.

Storer said the port is currently collecting data on the number of trucks and where they're coming from, and he expects to hear some options from the port in the fall. He didn't specify what those options might entail.

But while the neighbours say they're fed up and need a solution now, it appears they're going to have to endure more noise and smoke for the rest of the summer — or longer.