The rebuilding and repaving of Gerry Sorensen Way is well underway and on schedule and on budget, says City of Kimberley CAO Scott Sommerville.
“The contact (with BA Blacktop) states completion by third week of October, but sections of the road will be open well before that date,” he said.
The City received $4.5 million, which will cover 100 per cent of the costs, from the Gas Tax Strategic Priorities Fund.
The only cost to the City would be if the project goes over $4.5 million and so far it is on budget.
The repaving of Gerry Sorensen Way was something Mayor Don McCormick had been pushing for several years. He says it is Kimberley’s highest profile road and should be upgraded appropriately.
There are an estimated 800,000 vehicle trips on Gerry Sorensen Way each year, both local and tourist.
The poor condition of Gerry Sorensen Way is largely due to poor drainage and improper subsurface materials from the original construction, the Mayor said when the funding was announced last February. The annual patching of potholes and cracking has consumed approximately half of the City’s paving budget over the last five years.
Currently traffic to the resort area is being diverted up Norton Avenue while the bottom half of Gerry Sorensen is completed.
