Eliminate Slip Lanes

On a school day at 88 Avenue and Walnut Grove Drive, kids with bikes and scooters squeeze onto a small concrete island, with turning cars behind them and the main road in front.

That island is there because of the slip lane, a curved right-turn lane that lets drivers turn without waiting for the light, so people walking cross it with no signal and then wait on the island for the main crossing.

We wanted to know if other people felt the same way, so in fall 2023 we put up survey posters at every slip lane corner along 88 Avenue, asking about the corner people were standing at, and 32 answered, 31 of them on foot.

Do the slip lanes and islands feel safe?

Drivers tend to drive right through the slip lane without checking for pedestrians. It feels very unsafe.

The answers changed from corner to corner. Click one to see what people there told us, the ring shows whether they felt it's safe for pedestrians and the number is how many answered.

We asked the people who walk and wait at each corner, so it's not a random sample of Township residents, and corners with 1 or 2 responses are individual voices, not a poll. See the detailed results, summary and questions.

In 2024 Council asked staff for pedestrian-oriented options at 88 Avenue and 208 Street, the corner with the most responses in our survey, and in February 2025 the report came back with 4 options. Staff clearly put work into it, but the report counts every minute of driver delay and barely mentions the wait, the crowding or the risk for people on foot.

1The pick changes nothing for people walking

Staff's own table rates Option 1 "No change" for pedestrians and cyclists, so it's the same islands and the same unsignalled crossings.

2Driver delay is scored, pedestrian delay isn't

Traffic operations is 1 of the 6 criteria, but nothing scores how long people wait to cross or how crowded the island gets, so an option that does nothing for them can still rank first.

3Even staff say the design is dangerous

The report admits slip lanes mean faster turns, drivers looking over their shoulder instead of ahead, and an extra unsignalled lane for people with low vision or mobility challenges.

Too frequently the driver is looking to their left (for oncoming traffic) and not looking for pedestrians. It feels very unsafe to cross.

4"Generally" isn't good enough at a school crossing

"Generally" means some drivers don't, and 6 of the 10 people we surveyed at this corner said it's unsafe for pedestrians.

5Car queues get noted, the crowd on the island doesn't

Staff wrote down the left-turn queues for drivers, but not how long people wait on the island or how many squeeze onto it at the bell.

Cars never stop at the crosswalk and I've had to jump out of the way at least 7 times in my years walking here at night.

6No injuries yet isn't a safety standard

Near misses never show up in ICBC data, and if 44% of crashes are rear-ends in the slip lanes, "typical for this type of design" is a reason to change the design.

I have witnessed many near misses here.

7The fix that slows drivers was ruled out for slowing drivers

"Operational impact" means drivers would have to slow down, which is the whole point of a raised crossing, and it was dropped before the options were even drawn.

8"Failure" means drivers wait longer

Nobody calls it a failure when people on foot cross an unsignalled lane and wait on an island at every corner, and the draft TMS (Action D1.2) moves away from widening roads to fix congestion.

I’ve always worried that school kids or anyone on the island will be hit by someone going through a red or an accident from it

9Staff's own table rates Option 4 safest and best for walking

At $745,000 it's about 0.5% of the $154.7 million Smith Athletic Park, and active transportation grants exist for projects like this.

10Staff said wait for the TMS. It's ready.

The finished TMS covers slip lane removal (Action S3.2), and after two delays in July it comes to the new Council on November 16.

Excerpts from Township of Langley Engineering report 25-22, 88 Avenue and 208 Street Intersection Review, February 24, 2025. Highlights and notes are ours. Council received the report and took no action.

Staff said to wait for the Transportation and Mobility Strategy, and the new Council takes it up on November 16, so here's what we're asking for.