The City of Abbotsford will apply for a provincial grant to cover up to $500,000 of the cost of the Salton-Montrose-Parkview bikeway.
Council voted at its meeting on July 26 to endorse an application to the BC Active Transportation Infrastructure Grant Program.
The program funds up to 50 per cent of the costs – to a maximum of $500,000 – of municipal projects that support walking and cycling. A total of $36 million will be disbursed across the province over the next three years.
The city previously applied to the program in 2019/20 and received just under $300,000 for the Parkview-Tims-Charlotte bikeway project.
The budget for the Salton-Montrose-Parkview project has been set at $1 million for the design and construction – as part of the city’s 2021-25 financial plan – with hopes of half of that coming from the provincial grant.
A staff report to council states that, if the grant application is rejected, the project will be implemented in phases within the available budget.
On July 12, council approved a multi-year plan for cycling infrastructure improvements across the city.
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The Salton-Montrose-Parkview project will connect to two previous cycling projects – the Parkview-Tims-Charlotte bikeway and the Salton Road bridge bikeway.
The staff report states that the bridge saw almost 76,000 crossings in 2020, despite there being no events at Abbotsford Centre and no in-person classes at University of the Fraser Valley.
The first phase of the project will extend the Salton Road bridge bikeway to the new transit exchange that will be built on Montrose Avenue in the historic downtown.
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The second phase will upgrade the current bike lanes on McDougall Avenue, Bevan Avenue and Peardonville Road to buffered bike lanes connecting the Montrose transit exchange to the Parkview-Tims-Charlotte bikeway.
Conceptual design and public engagement for the project has begun, and it is expected that construction of phase one will being in 2022, according to the staff report.
RELATED: City of Abbotsford seeks public input on Salton Road cycling project
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