Five months into major work on Salt Spring’s busiest road, project officials are marking a significant construction milestone and say –– at least for the moment –– they’re on-target to finish before Canada Day.
With only a small amount of work remaining at Alders Avenue, according to Northridge Excavating Ltd. project manager Bob Mitchell, the main drain alignment on Fulford-Ganges Road south of Ganges is largely complete and crews are starting catch basin installation; those basins drain surface water from the road into the main drain.
“From residents’ and a traffic perspective, this part of the work will look more or less exactly the same,” said Mitchell. “We expect this work to continue for about two months.”
But some change to the pattern is ahead, Mitchell said, including surface works at Fulford-Ganges Road’s intersection with Seaview Avenue. That improvement, involving some curbs and sidewalks, is expected to take just a few days. Islanders can look for that to be done “in the next month or so,” he said.
And keen road users can keep an eye out for planned retaining wall work at the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation’s healthcare worker housing project at Bittancourt Road, Mitchell said, which is expected in March.
“The work zone there will be in the north-bound lane, rather than the south-bound,” said Mitchell, “which is opposite to what road users are used to right now.”
Crews will soon be installing a culvert beneath the roadway just north of Fulford-Ganges Road’s intersection with Cranberry Road, Mitchell said, and while the work is significant he believed there would be little interruption to traffic from it. There are a few catch basins to be installed on the east side of the road, he added, so the work zone will be in the northbound lane.
Islanders will see a lot of activity in the waterway on both sides of that road, he said, but should understand crews are ensuring work there is being done to the “highest environmental standards.”
“A professional biologist registered with the province of B.C. will closely monitor the works at every step,” said Mitchell. “And, I should say, the entire project is being [similarly] monitored on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.”
Meanwhile, every driveway and intersection along the length of the project is being re-worked and when complete will meet highway code, according to Mitchell.
“They will be a lot safer and easier to use,” he said.
Like every construction project, according to Mitchell, issues have cropped up while work was underway; he said changes thus far have been “minor in scope” but logistically prevented him from making updates on anticipated paving dates.
“At this moment,” he said, “the completion date remains at June 30.”
Work began last September on the 1.6-kilometre stretch of Fulford-Ganges Road from Seaview Avenue to Cranberry Road known locally as Ganges Hill, a $22.9-million project with planned improvements including pedestrian crossings and refuge areas and paved shoulders for pedestrians and cyclists — a 1.2-metre-wide shoulder heading north (or downhill into Ganges) and 1.8 metres in the southbound direction.
Road work shifts to new phase
Five months into major work on Salt Spring’s busiest road, project officials are marking a significant construction milestone and say –– at least for the moment –– they’re on-target to finish before Canada Day.
With only a small amount of work remaining at Alders Avenue, according to Northridge Excavating Ltd. project manager Bob Mitchell, the main drain alignment on Fulford-Ganges Road south of Ganges is largely complete and crews are starting catch basin installation; those basins drain surface water from the road into the main drain.
“From residents’ and a traffic perspective, this part of the work will look more or less exactly the same,” said Mitchell. “We expect this work to continue for about two months.”
But some change to the pattern is ahead, Mitchell said, including surface works at Fulford-Ganges Road’s intersection with Seaview Avenue. That improvement, involving some curbs and sidewalks, is expected to take just a few days. Islanders can look for that to be done “in the next month or so,” he said.
And keen road users can keep an eye out for planned retaining wall work at the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation’s healthcare worker housing project at Bittancourt Road, Mitchell said, which is expected in March.
“The work zone there will be in the north-bound lane, rather than the south-bound,” said Mitchell, “which is opposite to what road users are used to right now.”
Crews will soon be installing a culvert beneath the roadway just north of Fulford-Ganges Road’s intersection with Cranberry Road, Mitchell said, and while the work is significant he believed there would be little interruption to traffic from it. There are a few catch basins to be installed on the east side of the road, he added, so the work zone will be in the northbound lane.
Islanders will see a lot of activity in the waterway on both sides of that road, he said, but should understand crews are ensuring work there is being done to the “highest environmental standards.”
“A professional biologist registered with the province of B.C. will closely monitor the works at every step,” said Mitchell. “And, I should say, the entire project is being [similarly] monitored on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.”
Meanwhile, every driveway and intersection along the length of the project is being re-worked and when complete will meet highway code, according to Mitchell.
“They will be a lot safer and easier to use,” he said.
Like every construction project, according to Mitchell, issues have cropped up while work was underway; he said changes thus far have been “minor in scope” but logistically prevented him from making updates on anticipated paving dates.
“At this moment,” he said, “the completion date remains at June 30.”
Work began last September on the 1.6-kilometre stretch of Fulford-Ganges Road from Seaview Avenue to Cranberry Road known locally as Ganges Hill, a $22.9-million project with planned improvements including pedestrian crossings and refuge areas and paved shoulders for pedestrians and cyclists — a 1.2-metre-wide shoulder heading north (or downhill into Ganges) and 1.8 metres in the southbound direction.