2015 could be year of traffic turmoil

NEWS/ CITY HALL — It will be a busy — maybe even chaotic — summer on Kamloops streets next year.

The first official steps toward borrowing $2 million toward construction of the $4.8 million Columbia Street widening project were taken Tuesday as City council moved forward with the plan despite some misgivings.

The project will include the addition of several turning lanes and other features when construction gets started next year.

Coun. Denis Walsh, in his first regular meeting after being elected in November, wasn’t enthusiastic about the closure of a lefthand turn off Columbia onto Second Avenue. He acknowledged the left turn is poorly designed and unsafe but proposed a proper left turn lane be constructed instead of blocking it off.

He said the closure will force motorists coming down Columbia Street hill to turn on Third Avenue instead, adding to congestion. But staff said a left turn lane at Second wouldn’t solve the problem because it would still back up traffic.

Coun. Donovan Cavers saw a different problem with the project — too much road construction going on at once. The Columbia Street work will be timed to coincide with construction of the new Clinical Building and parkade at Royal Inland Hospital and next year will also see major upgrades to Overlanders Bridge.

He said all that work being done at the same time could create turmoil, and would have liked the bridge work to be put off until later.

Council approved the first three readings of the borrowing bylaw for Columbia Street. The rest of the funding will come from elsewhere in the budget.

The bridge will be resurfaced during the spring and summer, and the pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of the bridge will be rebuilt. An open house on the bridge project will be held Thursday, Dec. 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kamloops Alliance Church, 233 Fortune Drive.