Concerned residents in South Surrey asked Surrey council to ban heavy truck traffic on 32nd Avenue, west of Highway 15, citing public health, public safety and noise concerns.

At a council meeting on Oct. 17, Surrey council moved a motion to do so.

Independent mayoral candidate Ross Buchanan is the co-chair of the 32nd Avenue Alliance, made up of the concerned area residents. The 32nd Avenue Alliance says on its website that it has been getting the run around from all levels of government for the past year.

Buchanan said the group has had to "jump through hoops" to get in front of council, but added that he is "elated" that council has decided to go ahead with the motion.

But Surrey Civic Coalition council hopeful Gary Robinson said the motion was purely an election move.

"Residents have spent six years trying to get the attention of council. Council wouldn't even meet with them until it got this close to election time," Robinson said, adding that council only acted because its "political behind" is on the line.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said council took action when the delegation came before council. Watts said in 1999 she made a motion to have the road removed from the TransLink network.

"We spent probably three-plus years working with the residents, dealing with some of those issues. TransLink said that they were not going to remove it from the network, so we're back at it again. We'll continue to push because I think the situation on 32nd Avenue has not improved and we need alternative eastwest connections."

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