The Regional District of Nanaimo board is looking to provide upwards of $25,000 of gas tax money for design work for a path around Gabriola Island’s village centre.
RDN directors moved and seconded a motion, pending final approval by the regional district and Union of B.C. Municipalities, that will see the money allocated to Newcastle Engineering Ltd. to update engineering drawings for the project to conform with B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure specifications.
Tom Osborne, RDN general manager of recreation and parks, said the regional district and the ministry have been working to build a raised pedestrian path in the village area of Gabriola Island on North Road since 2015. The path would be primarily for pedestrian use. There have been various designs proposed and they must adhere to ministry road standards, said Osborne.
“With that, there has been some iterations of that design under consideration for quite some time and engineering work has been done and we have now come to a point in discussions with MOTI that they will allow for a … path with an asphalt curb and with that, we just have to do some final design tweaks to our drawings for submission for their approval for a permit,” said Osborne.
The next steps will see drawings completed and the regional district meeting with the ministry again to see if designs fit the need. That will be followed by final costing and assembling of funds to get the project done, said Osborne. The RDN will go to tender for the work following that, he said.
Howard Houle, RDN director for the Gabriola Island area, said the path is necessary for Gabriola as it will offer more connectivity in the village core.
“It’s also about safety because you have people walking along there, pushing strollers and there’s trucks rolling right by, semis, and also that trail goes along, it goes by a seniors’ residence, it goes by a school, it goes up to a daycare. So there’s lots of traffic back and forth along there, pedestrians, children in particular.”
Osborne said planning for rural areas can be difficult.
“Unlike a city, where you can have sidewalks and so forth, in the rural areas, or in our case urbanized rural areas, the MOTI standards haven’t always lined up very well with the needs of the local community,” said Osborne. “This type of design that we’re working with MOTI on may be suitable not only at the Village Way area, but other urbanized rural areas within [the] regional district as well as other regional districts in the province.”
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