It’s an infrastructure project that has attracted the interest of the community, with many residents weighing in on what is the best way to fix the intersection of Victoria Road and the Trans-Canada highway.
The City of Revelstoke has released a new report, which will be reviewed at city council this Tuesday, April 26.
The initial design concept to upgrade the area was released in March. It was designed to alleviate traffic congestion during the peak summer weekends when the entire area can get gridlocked. It added a roundabout at Victoria Road and Wright Street and a second roundabout at Laforme and Fraser Streets (on the north side of the Trans-Canada). It also removed the option of turning across lanes from the Woodenhead Loop (near McDonald’s) onto Victoria Road, which currently creates a backlog of traffic.
Following an open house and input from stakeholders including the City of Revelstoke, McElhanney Consulting Services tweaked the initial design.
McElhanney consultants also reviewed the variety of comments submitted from residents at the open house. Many proposed complete changes to the design, such as installing a roundabout or an overpass on the Trans-Canada, while others offered thoughts on how to improve the supplied design. Many provided hand drawn maps to support their directions. You can view these comments in the full report embedded below. It is a whopping 99 pages long. It also contains letters from stakeholders at the intersection.
From input from stakeholders and the public, changes to the design include:
- Improved pedestrian access to Tim Hortons, Shell and Super 8 with a sidewalk and crosswalk.
- Improved access to the frontage road for Tim Hortons, Shell and Super 8, particularly for larger vehicles.
- Installation of concrete median restricting turning movements near the Canadian Pacific (CP) underpass.
- Inclusion of a modest large vehicle parking area on the frontage road.
- Removal of the future roundabout at Fraser Drive from the design plans.
Unresolved are the concerns of the businesses on the east side of Victoria that are currently accessed off the highway by a left turn off Victoria to the Frontage Road.
To understand the full scope of the project, read the full report below.
It answers a number of community questions and confusion about the design, such as snow removal at the roundabout. The answer to that one, following consultation with other communities with roundabouts in snowbelt areas, is that with proper design and maintenance practices it can be managed.
If councillors approve this preliminary design at the city council meeting, city staff and McElhanney will produce a timeline of design phases, tender period, and construction.
The aim is for the roundabout at Victoria and Wright Street to be completed this fall, with the remainder of the work on the west side of the railway underpass to be completed next spring.
The cost estimate for the work is $2.1 million, significantly higher than city staff’s pre-project estimates. The 2016 capital plan has $1.2 million allocated for this project and more funding options will need to be investigated. The staff report says that phasing the project may be necessary due to the increased costs.
Read the full report here, and don’t forget to leave your comments on the proposed changes below:
McElhanney Victoria Road traffic plan by Revelstoke Mountaineer
What did you think of this story?
Your feedback after we publish a story helps ensure we're always improving our reporting to better serve you
