Loss of Metrotown pedestrian bridge inconveniences commuters, shoppers

Malls can be a chaotic, frustrating place this time of year but construction at Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, B.C., has made the situation more challenging for shoppers and commuters.

Construction has been happening at Metrotown SkyTrain station for a year now, but last month, a pedestrian walkway from the mall and bus loop to the station itself was permanently closed.

Transit users now mustwalk across Central Boulevard instead, and crossing guard Ryland Vincent says that has led to some unsafe behaviour.

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"There's tons of people jaywalking. They don't worry about getting hit, they just cross the road so they can get to the mall," he told On The Coast's Vivian Luk.

"I tell them to stop, they don't stop and just keep going and the buses can't pull out which means the buses get backed up back there."

Vincent says he's seen a few close calls and often people ignore his safety commands and just cross when they'd like even when there's oncoming traffic.

Work will continue until 2018

TransLink spokesman Chris Bryant says the pedestrian bridge is out because of substantial upgrades that will triple the size of Metrotown Station.

He says the bridge had to be taken out of commission because deconstruction of the existing station platform removed one of theconnecting ends.

"We are aware this is a significant inconvenience for our customers, and we've done a lot of things to mitigate that," Bryant told On The Coast guest host Laura Lynch. "We have a lot of staff on hand trying to direct people we've actually put up barricades as well to discourage people from jaywalking, but unfortunately, some people are still doing that and that's definitely a concern."

Bryant says there are shuttle buses at Royal Oak and Patterson stations that will take people to the bus loop if they have mobility issues or strollers.

He acknowledgesthe timing of the bridge closure is a problem, but the idea was to complete the work on the station as quickly as possible.

Bryant says work on the station will wrap up in early 2018.

With files from Vivian Luk and CBC Radio One's On The Coast

To hear the full interview, click on the audio labelled:Loss of Metrotown pedestrian bridge inconveniences commuters, shoppers