The city of Penticton has received a $1 million grant from the provincial government to fund the Lake-to-Lake bike lane.
“We applied for the grant a few months back because it aligns with council and the community’s commitment to build a bike lane from lake to lake,” said Anthony Haddad, the city’s general manager of community services on Thursday.
City staff are currently in the process of updating the final design details.
The final design of the bike lane and its budget will be presented at the March 16 city council meeting. The estimated cost of the bike lane is around $8 million.
If council approves the design and budget, construction would begin fairly quickly, said Haddad.
“A stipulation to being awarded the grant is it has to be spent by the end of 2021,” he said.
The grant came from the Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) which is a $100-million provincially funded umbrella program, providing one-time infrastructure funding grants to communities province-wide. The grants will support economic resilience, tourism, heritage and urban and rural economic development projects.
Construction will be minimal, said Haddad.
“For the 200 block it will be line painting and installing barriers, and working on an intersection,” he said.
The city has been working with the affected businesses to minimize disruption during what has already been a devastating time for small businesses in the city during the pandemic.
“We are trying to limit the impact on businesses and we will also stay away from construction in the summer months,” he added.
Since the planned route was approved by council in November, city staff have been gathering feedback and looking at concerns regarding the final two phases of the route from Fairview Road and Martin Street to Okanagan Lake.
Numerous concerns from residents were provided, including the speeds of vehicles along the streets and the impact on businesses, the loss of parking and cost to taxpayers.
| This is the preferred route for Penticton’s incoming bike lane. (File photo) |
READ MORE: Staff try to address concerns about the bike lane
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