SUNDAY June 30, 1996 oa | BOS) Days for the price of ¥ See 2 . a Page 18 BCAA Travel \ HOV goes for 2 BY !AN NOBLE News Reporter LB GON AEP ATTN ee CARS carrying two occu- pants will get a jump-start on traffic over the Second Narrows Bridge starting Monday. North Vancouver District assists traffic manager Norm Nikkel said the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes leading to the bridge from the north and south sides have been used inef{i- ciently. While the regular fanes are plagued by long lineups, the HOV lanes have been sparsely used, Going to wo occupants in the HOV lane should balance out the users of the Janes, he said. The highways ministry, local municipalities, Vancouver and B.C. Transit okayed the move to two oce:- pants for the HOV lanes Friday. “I think it will. he well-received.” Nikkel said. “Some of the frustration will be diminished. but it won't be a perfect world because single drivers have been blatantly abusing the HOV lane.” To illustrate. he points to figures obtained Monday on lower Mountain Highway. Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., 174 driver-only cars used the regular lane, but 98 of them cruised along the HOV iane. Drivers using the regular lanes have been phoning by the hun- dreds to complain about the HOV queue jumpers, said Nikkel. ® Bright Lights......................... 8 & Collins. @ Crossword BB Horoscopes @ North Shore Alert @ Talking Personals TV Listings. Property taxes? Cdn. funds 4.50% daily Does yours? For more information call 925-9210 West Vancouver otfice MIDLAND_WALWYN HLUF CHEF THINKIN G™ NEWS photo Paul McGrath LYCRA-CLAD mountain biker Liz Earle hopes her organization, the EMP Society, can Weather Monday: Mix of sun and cloud High 19°C, tow 12°C. forest trails L. Valley habitat damage feared BY IAN NOBLE News Reporter NORTH Vancouver District has its own version of the war of the woods simmering in an Upper Lynn Valley park. Mountain bikers are causing habitat destruction along Griffen Trail which starts at McNair and Hoskins, says a local resi- dent. Bikers reply that under a new program to build proper trails, they are actually min- imizing ecological harm. Peggy Trendell-Whittaker said the mountain bikers have decimated under- growth, exposed tree roots, blocked trails with logs for bike jumps and eroded stream beds. Referring to it pilot project that will see mountain bikers upgrade and maintain the trails in the park, Trendell-Whittaker said: “T hope someone will monitor the experi- ment carefully because it’s obvious they're impacting the forest. | think we are getting to the point this can’t be sustained by the habitat. “And having shared the forest with at least one mountain biker on all my recent walks, Fcan say they don't seem to be stick- ing to any designated trails.” she said. A district parks staff report said the Griffen experiment has been approved to try to prevent the building of unofficial trails by a rapidly growing number of mountain bike enthusiasts. The parks department recommends a proactive approach to encourage mountain biking on build bridges with focal residents by maintaining Griffen traits and using them respon- sibly. Opposition has come from area hikers who say riders harm habitat. erchants squeezec BY DEANA LANCASTER Contributing Writer AN angry group of Park and Tilford merchants met with North Vancouver City engineer Chuck Gale on Thursday afternoon to discuss the problems patrons face irying to get to the mall. “We found out about two weeks before con- struction stirted that they would make access to this otal nearly impossible” said Pat Love. co-owner of Brummy’s Fish and Chips. “As soon as the bridge construction started. i was a aightnare.” Patrons of Park and ‘Tilford often find them: selves caught in the snarled traffic leading to the bridge. As well. said Love, same customers have said they were ticketed by police when they tried to use the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) Jane to access the mall. FE. Douglas Webber, also an owner of Brummy’s, said ina letter sent to Mayor Jack Loucks on June 17 that business at the fish and chip shop was down approximately 50% from projected seasonal sales. “They keep talking about people makiag sacrifices because of the bridge.” said Love, “but the people who are making all the financial sacrifices are the merchants.” The merchants sent a petition to city hail in May asking for help. The problem was deferred to the city engineer following debate during Monday night's council meeting. Gale told the merchants the bridge was only handling half of the traffic that it did: prior to construction, They'd expected it to handle two- thirds. He said that Brooksbank is being under. uti- See Club page § lized. Many drivers are using Heywood us a shorteut, but new signs will be posted forcing those drivers to turn right on te East 3rd Street. away from the bridge. Gale also said he hoped that reducing the minimum limit of HOV lane users to two peo- ple per vehicle would ease traffic tie-ups. An evaluation after the bridge construction is com- pleted will determine whether the HOV kines will remain, The merchants learned that it is legal for dri- vers without passengers to travel in an HOV lane within one block of their destination. Patrons cannot be ticketed for using the HOV lane on Brooksbank to access the mall. Gale asked fora financial impact statement from mall management after the construction is done. Love doesa’tthink that will be necessary. “ALL they TE have to do is Took at all the empty stores when this is all over.”