For anyone driving in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood, it doesn’t take long to come across a concrete barrier blocking a road.

Traffic calming measures such as those were installed as part of the City of Vancouver’s neighbourhood traffic management program, intended to improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.

However, residents say they have just caused confusion and chaos.

“It’s a combination of many more turns and many more blocks,” said local Tom Siracusa.

“It’s an absolute gauntlet for local residents and local businesses.”

He pointed to a recent example of a vehicle being forced to go down an alley because it wasn’t able to go anywhere else.

“It seems they’re creating more problems than they’re solving.”

Maria Stanborough, an urban planning consultant with C+S Planning, is also an East Vancouver resident. She says the city’s plans don’t add up.

“If you want traffic calming, you want drivers to know where they’re going, and maybe do it at a slower pace,” she said.

“So often, that includes roundabouts and traffic bumps. What the city has done is they’ve stopped turning down certain roads used in the past and they’ve diverted traffic onto school streets. A lot of it doesn’t make sense to me.”

A petition calling on the city to remove the barriers has garnered more than 2,000 signatures.

“We’ve been affected by these changes, and we’re sending a message to the city that we want our neighbourhood back,” Stanborough said.

“More importantly, we don’t want to be barricaded.”

In a statement, the City of Vancouver said the project had an extensive public consultation process and was meant to address long-standing concerns about speeding and shortcutting. It said staff will continue to monitor the effectiveness and community feedback, and may adjust, relocate, or remove specific measures in early 2027.