The city plans to eventually widen the sidewalks on Victoria Street beyond 5th Avenue in downtown Kamloops.

That would mean reducing traffic to one lane in each direction, instead of the two lanes each way that currently exists.

Councillor Mike O’Reilly says now is a good time to have that discussion, with development of The Hive going on around the corner, a three-phase, multi-year commercial, and possibly residential, development, between 5th and 6th avenues along Lansdowne Street.

“There’s always been the intent to extend the Victoria Street feel beyond 5th Avenue. And so if you look down the street right now, Victoria Street essentially ends at 5th Avenue, and then you go to four lanes all the way down. And that’s never been the intent, and so there’s been a budget to do beautification and sidewalk widening and planting new trees.”

O’Reilly says because of the pandemic, the earliest this kind of project would happen on Victoria Street past 5th Avenue is next year.

He says there’s a budget for beautification, which includes widening sidewalks, but says priorities can shift on where to spend that money.

“We’ve been shifting it around the downtown core based on where projects are being done at the time. We’re looking as far back as eight years ago, nine years ago, that it was supposed to be done here [on Victoria Street], but it got moved down for the new Sandman Hotel. Then it got shifted up to the renovation on the (Lansdowne) parkade; saying okay, we’re renovating the parkade, we may as well do a sidewalk expansion at the same time. Furthermore, it was actually going to be expanded for the Performing Arts Centre if it went through this year.”

O’Reilly says the hope is that one day the expanded sidewalks on Victoria Street will go all the way to Memorial Arena, past 7th Avenue.