Top Photo: Alternative Section Looking West - Crestline Street to Southill Street Bottom Photo:Tranquille Road- Recently Completed Multi-use Path.
Kamloops City Council is being asked to look at possible upgrades to existing plans to make the drive from the Kamloops Airport into the city a safer and more scenic experience.
Next week council will be asked to look at finding roughly eight to nine-million dollars to create a ‘green belt’ from Fulton Field along Tranquille.
North Shore Business Improvement Association Executive Director Jeremy Heighton says the upgraded design plan would also make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Figure 3 – Alternative Section Looking West – Crestline Street to Southill Street (Supplied: City of Kamloops)
“Part of our move towards more recreational corridors we also wanted to look around bike transportation so the city has incorporated a separate bike path.”
Due to the road being a heavy truck and dangerous goods route, Heighton says the city has also looked at putting a pathway of trees between the bike-lane and roadway.
He says the ‘green belt’ plan is an addition to the Tranquille upgrade work that has been underway since 2015.
“Something in the neighbourhood is 77 projects in the last five years that is all underground, that we do not see a lot of and so now its nice to see that we are starting to move above ground now and do some additional work that will soften the buffer.”
Tranquille Road East of Southill Street – Recently Completed Multi-use Path. (Supplied: City of Kamloops)
Heighton explains the proposal would fit with the larger plans in-place for the area, including recreational assets, something he says is needed on the North Shore.
“To help connect all the rivers, trails and other recreational routes,” he said.
“We are moving more into a white collar type of community with different types of industry and different types of travel and much more tourism based, so the entry way into the airport is a critical piece of that infrastructure.”
If council approves the proposal, design work would start right away, with the expectation the ‘greening’ project could be finished within 4-years.
