Expect delays downtown as the project moving the traffic light at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Ross Street to Fourth Street NE begins.
Rob Niewenhuizen, the city’s director of engineering and public works, said the work is being done by Springline Construction Services Ltd. It was scheduled to start today, April 6, with a plan to have it completed by May 24, the Victoria Day holiday.
“The TCH will see lane closures and it is my understanding that there will be night work involved,” Niewenhuizen said.
Moving the traffic light along Highway 1 to Fourth Street was proposed in a 2013 TCH Corridor Study prepared for the city, ICBC and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
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Council of the day approved the plan in a tight 4-3 vote in October 2017, but that decision was later rescinded in July 2018 in order to bring it back to the first meeting of a newly elected council.
Approved again, the city took its request to government officials at the annual Union of BC Municipalities convention in September 2020. Municipal politicians learned the ministry of transportation had sent out a request for proposals, with work expected to begin by November.
The downtown work proposed in the corridor study included relocating the traffic signal and extending the highway median at Fourth; the inclusion of a signal with a long westbound left-turn bay at Shuswap Street; a stop controlled ‘right-in-right-out’ at McLeod Street; a signal with a long eastbound left-turn bay at Alexander Street; a stop controlled ‘right-in-right-out’ at Ross Street; and a stop controlled Sixth Street with restricted southbound left turns.
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