Dundas Street, between Nanaimo and Renfrew is a 5-block, 800m stretch of residential roadway being used as a high-speed shortcut by motorists, commercial trucks, and buses avoiding east/west-bound traffic on nearby Hastings Street or McGill, or getting to/from PNE events. It is designated a "collector" meaning that it intended to provide access to secondary arterials for local residents. It is not a truck route.

Motorists routinely speed, often exceeding 60-70 km/h (even 100 km/h has been clocked!), ignore pedestrians trying to use crosswalks at Penticton and Slocan, and pass cars that are waiting to turn. There are regular accidents at various intersections, particularly Kaslo and Dundas where the bike route crosses. Plus, this stretch of Dundas Street is off-limits to trucks, but residents of Dundas Street regularly see over-weight commercial trucks and buses using the street illegally.

The current classification of Dundas Street is a Neighbor Collector, having been downgraded in April 2005 by the City of Vancouver from a secondary arterial. It is now awaiting the outcome of community consultation with the City whereby it may receive calming features such as bulges, turning circles, etc. Engineering conducted a survey in October 2009. The 2010 Olypmics obstructed further progress. Further consultations with the City has resulted in a plan to calm Dundas in late 2011 contingent on various constraints, particularly budget.

As local residents, we have formed the Dundas Street Group and it is our position that this short stretch of Dundas Street should be traffic calmed as soon as possible with turning circles, no-through traffic signs, and other limiting features to make the street safer to live on and to cross for residents, school children, cyclists, and pedestrians alike.

The Dundas Street Group also supports a comprehensive study of traffic in the immediate neighbourhood to lessen the impact of east/west communter traffic on all of our residential streets.

Please join us in helping make our neighbourhood a better, safer place to live. You can participate by joining the SlowDownDundas email list and receive updates and communicate with others in the group.