Traffic calming is coming to Cadboro Bay Road at Thompson Avenue.
The facelift started last week for the intersection where an Oak Bay senior was struck in a crosswalk in November 2012 and again in January 2014.
The district plans to “tighten up the intersection,” says Dave Marshall, director of engineering for Oak Bay.
“Traffic calming of course is a means of physically slowing traffic, reducing the tendency for vehicles to flip around the corner at excessively fast speeds,” Marshall said.
“We’re going to be reconfiguring that crosswalk and extending the traffic bulge.”
Oak Bay hired Northridge Excavating Ltd. for the curb extension at the south-east quadrant, the realigning of the existing crosswalk, addition of a bike lane on Cadboro Bay Road and a reduced sidewalk extension on Thompson Avenue.
Council discussed traffic calming for the Cadboro Bay Road and Thompson Avenue intersection this summer and approved an option that included all those elements, with a lengthier extension of the sidewalk on Thompson Avenue.
They allocated $47,000 in the 2015 budget for that work. Since then, ICBC confirmed a contribution of $6,100 towards the project.
“By working with ICBC on theses projects we’re assured they have their input on the design aspect and they can contribute,” Marshall said. “It’s valuable input into our process.”
When put out to tender in September, bids were significantly over budget, so municipal staff met with the lowest bidder, Northridge, and arranged for a re-submission based on the removal of approximately 70 metres of the originally proposed sidewalk extension.
The revised bid came in just over $49,000 and falls under budget with a GST rebate.
“We’re not losing anything because the main traffic calming component is in effect,” Marshall said.
“We’re going to follow through and put the extended sidewalk in next year. Any work beyond this, there will be an evaluation period and we’ll see how it performs. If a larger scope project is warranted that could come online in the future.”
