Major paving work on Main Street began today. Motorists can expect delays as the resurfacing continues. New “bumpouts” at each crosswalk are slated to enhance pedestrian safety. Photo by Lyonel Doherty
Like everyone else, MLA Linda Larson has to “bite the bullet” until the Main Street construction project is finished.
“I just want people to be patient; it’s for their own safety in the long run.”
Larson said the resurfacing project is expected to be completed in mid-November. The work includes resurfacing Main Street and constructing “bumpouts” at three intersections (School, Bank and Veterans Avenue).
Larson said the bumpouts (at the old crosswalks) will lessen the distance that pedestrians have to cross, and will “raise them up” for better visibility by motorists.
Temporary crosswalks have been installed until the bumpouts are completed.
Larson acknowledged that the work has been disruptive to Main Street businesses.
“People always complain when there’s construction, but safety is the issue and people have to realize how important that is.”
Larson said she is surprised that more people haven’t been killed in downtown Oliver.
When the project is complete, she envisions a slower traffic environment downtown.
Town Councillor Maureen Doerr said the project has had an impact on Main Street businesses.
“People think you can’t park or we are closed.”
But Doerr said the end result will be great.
It has been promised that access to downtown businesses will be maintained at all times.
The Town of Oliver is engaged as a cost-sharing partner (with the Ministry of Transportation) on the pedestrian safety and lighting portion of the project.
The ministry would cover 50 per cent of the Town’s costs up to $200,000 on the upgrades. The original budget of $170,000 for the bumpout pedestrian safety portion and another $40,000 for the lighting upgrades brings the Town’s total contribution to $210,000.
Town staff requested (and received) $17,000 above the current budget, making the total budget $227,000.
The ministry believes the costs of this project came in higher for the following reasons:
There was only one bidder (Peters Brothers Construction) for this tender ($1.4 million project).
The work is being undertaken downtown, where there are extremely high traffic volumes, potentially resulting in inflated bids to compensate for the additional traffic management required.
The contract has a significant amount of specialized work (eg. bumpouts) and is not a straightforward resurfacing project.
The original scope of the project was just paving the two travel lanes through town, as was done north and south of town earlier in the year. However, the Town added more improvements and fixes and further grew the original scope of the project.
The ministry agreed to the cost-sharing portion and also to fully cover other improvements such as paving all parking areas downtown which was not part of the original project.
