A road project similar in scope to West Victoria Street will start on the North Shore next spring.

Kamloops capital projects manager Darren Crundwell says crews will be replacing more than two kilometres of sewer lines from 12th Street to Mayfair Street.

He compared it to the $13.5-million-dollar road project on West Victoria Street.

“We’re looking at the some other things right now but it’s going to be around the same dollar figure. It’s a lot longer, but there’s not as much impact to businesses and traffic. There’s a lot more ways to get around that corridor and we’ve got a lot more room to work with as well. So the dollar figure is there, but the constructability of the project should be quite a bit simpler.”

He says it’s expected to cost more than $9 million but a dollar figure has not been determined.

“We’re going to put it out to the contractor and let them tell us. Based on the historical spend that we see, we would estimate that being kind of two full construction seasons as well. But based on what we did with West Victoria Street we know we can do a lot better.”

Crundwell expects the city will choose a contractor by February, and says city staff will sit down with interested contractors next month.

Sewer rates for Kamloops taxpayers are expected to raise by seven per cent in the 2020-21 fiscal year to increase reserve funds for the sewer line project on Tranquille Road.