As the official end of summer approaches, work on the St. Ann’s upgrade project is on track, and contractors are planning ahead to the start of the second phase and related road detours.
“The project is on schedule and on budget,” said Jason Hartley, Manager of Capital Works for the City of Campbell River. “To date we have had no significant issues that would have changed the contractor’s timing estimate.”
As of the first week of September, all underground work along St. Ann’s Road on the west side of Alder Street is complete, and this section has been paved. The contractor has also installed new storm system piping on Dubeau and Beech streets. The installation of electrical conduits has begun, starting at the Alder and St. Ann’s intersection.
The next steps for the project include preparing to pave the roadways of the excavated areas, which involves compacting the road’s base and sub base material.
“The excellent summer weather has been a big help at keeping close to the project schedule, with a bit of rain keeping the dust to a minimum,” said Mayor Walter Jakeway. “To the general community and specifically the businesses in the area: thank you for your patience and for working around the project so well. As the amount of completed work increases, the new look of the area will start to be apparent, and the benefits of improved infrastructure will last long into the future. Opportunities to complete major upgrades of buried services infrastructure, at key intersections, doesn’t happen often for a busy city.”
Current road detours will stay in place until the end of September or early October. It is anticipated that St. Ann’s Road will re-open to traffic in both directions at that time.
Once St. Ann’s is re-opened, Alder Street (between St. Ann’s and 10th Avenue) will then close to traffic for work on the second phase of the project.
“The goal of ‘swapped’ road closures is to ensure there is manageable traffic flow into the downtown core at all times during the project,” Hartley explained. “To date this has been achieved by routing St. Ann’s traffic onto Alder.”
The second phase closure (Alder Street) is anticipated to go into late November, with completion of road surface restoration and final landscaping anticipated to carry on into the new year.
A detailed map of the new detours will be posted in local newspapers and on the City website.
For full project details, visit the Downtown Revitalization project pages under Capital Projects on the City’s website (www.campbellriver.ca).