As a major road construction project is about to start, the City of Kamloops says it is prepared if it comes across any archaeological artifacts.

Capital projects manager Darren Crundwell says Victoria Street West has the oldest undeground infrastructure in the city and it hasn’t been ripped up in more than a century.

“The city has planned for it, we work very well with Tk’emlups. We’ve been really working on getting better with respect to archaeological and cultural heritage on our project,” Crundwell says.

“We have to follow the Heritage Resource Conservation Act. That covers one part of it, there’s also the cultural element, in regards to Tk’emlups, one important to everybody. So it’s just respecting all of those.

“We’re not saying necessarily that we’re going to find something on West Victoria Street, but we are prepared if we do. We have permits, we have archaeologists waiting, helping us through the project. It’s the oldest area of town, there’s been people there for 10,000 years there’s probably not a square inch that hasn’t seen someone’s footprint.”

The two-year project worth nearly $13-million-dollars project will be getting started on April 15.