No left turn on First Avenue from 100-block Victoria in new intersection

NEWS/ CITY — After four months of patiently making their way through all the reconstruction work at the intersection in front of City Hall, Kamloops drivers expecting to hang a left off Victoria Street and head up First Avenue from the downtown core will be in for a surprise.

The project is expected to be open for regular traffic flow by the end of this week but something will be missing — the new configuration prohibits turning up First Avenue off West Victoria westbound.

Instead, traffic must turn right toward Lansdowne or Lorne Streets.

Public works and utilities director Jen Fretz and corporate services director Dave Duckworth confirmed for The Armchair Mayor News today that redesigning the intersection didn’t allow for the old lefthand turn off the 100-block Victoria downtown onto First Avenue.

Duckworth said engineers tried to find a way of providing for it, including installing a traffic light, but nothing worked. Duckworth and Fretz said staff are expecting a few phone calls from the public as they discover the change.

Drivers who want to get onto First Avenue from Victoria Street downtown will have to cut up Second Avenue to St. Paul Street, then go right to First. Or, they can get onto First off Lansdowne.

A route map in the lobby at City Hall shows the changes.

The $1.8-million project is just one of several major rehabilitations the City is doing to the road system. At today’s (Tuesday’s) council meeting, council approved borrowing $3.3 million to fund repairs to Overlanders Bridge, and will spend $1.6 million to repave five km. of Westsyde Road from Halston to Franklin Roads.

The bridge borrowing will be subject to a counter-petition process in which opponents can attempt to stop it by gathering signatures on a petition.