February 18, 2008

Infrastructure

Richmond City Centre revitalization plays key role in Canada Line project

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

A new initiative to revitalize Richmond City Centre began last week with the restoration of the urban environment surrounding No. 3 Road.

Richmond City Centre is an important link on the Canada Line, which is a 19.5 kilometre rapid transit line linking downtown Vancouver and the Vancouver International Airport.

No. 3 Road was selected as the most appropriate route for the Canada Line because that part of Richmond has the highest population density in the north-south corridor between Vancouver and Richmond.

The city of Richmond announced plans to begin the restoration of No. 3 Road on Feb. 5, as the construction of the Canada Line elevated guideway in Richmond neared completion.

The goal of this $3.5 million dollar project is to integrate the elevated guideway into the east side of No. 3 Road, while revitalizing the roadway environment.

“While Canada Line finishes the guideway construction and building the transit stations, the city will begin roadway restoration along No. 3 Road. This will include construction of the transit station plazas in order to make the street more pedestrian and cycle-friendly,” said Greg Scott, director of major projects with the city of Richmond.

“The plans will ensure that the Canada Line contributes positively to other developments within the city centre, such as the Richmond Oval and major fronting developments.”

The first phase of restoration work, between Bridgeport Road and Cambie Road, was tendered in December 2007 and was awarded to Imperial Paving Ltd.

“We started yesterday (Feb. 11) and are doing some preliminary layout and saw cutting, before we get started,” said Gordon Hartshorne, senior vice president at Imperial Paving Ltd.

“We are saw cutting the asphalt vertically, so it can be removed by machine. The job involves removing and replacing the existing curbs and sidewalks. We will also be doing a bike path, streets lights and plants. Landscaping is also a large component of the project.”

The restoration of No. 3 Road will require a crew of 12 to 14 people and includes the construction of continuous centre medians complete with new street lights, street trees and shrub planting, the construction of raised bike lanes and universally accessible intersections, with audible traffic signals, pavement warning strips and decorative paving treatments, street furniture such as benches, litter receptacles, bike racks and lockers and new bus shelters.

The project also includes the complete restoration of the east boulevard and the partial reconstruction of the west boulevard south of Alderbridge Way.

The timeline for construction has been broken into three phases. The first phase is Bridgeport Road to Cambie Road, which is scheduled for completion by July 10.

Phases two and three will directly follow and are expected to be complete by September 2009.

The main impact of construction on the public is traffic pattern changes.

“The biggest challenge we will face is traffic, because we are working with commercial properties and businesses,” Hartshorne said.

To deal with this issue, the paving company will not close down No. 3 Road. Instead, they will use lane closures and minor traffic diversions.

Imperial was involved in the original B line construction work on No. 3 Road five years ago.

“We found traffic quite co-operative,” he said

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