A look at construction on Highland Road on June 19, 2023.
A major infrastructure project in Kamloops that has led to traffic delays on Highland Road, the only access route to Juniper Ridge, is set to be complete next month.
Capital Project Manager, Matt Kachel, says residents are being told conserve water as crews are installing a new water main along Highland Road, south of Valleyview Drive today, June 20.
“It would be the final tie in to putting all the new main that we had installed into service,” Kachel told RadioNL.
“There is a period of time where it gets disconnected from the booster station to put the new pipe in, so it will be on reservoir water for a bit. That is when we ask folks just to monitor their water use so that during that transition period that there is lots of available in the reservoir.”
Construction on the $5.4 million project began in June of last year with the City set to work on infrastructure upgrades along Flamingo Road and Highland Road between the Trans Canada Highway 1 and Valleyview Arena.
A map showing the two phases of the Highland Road project in Kamloops. (Photo via City of Kamloops)
Phase 1 of the project along Flamingo Road and on Highland Road from the Trans Canada to Valleyview Drive was completed last year. It included the installation of new water and sewer mains, new sidewalks, new streetlights, a traffic light at the intersection of Highland Road and Valleyview Drive, new water lines south of the Juniper Booster Station, and some repaving work.
Phase 2, which included the installation of the new water main along Highland Road, other underground utility work, as well as landscaping and paving work, got underway in March this year.
“It seems like the project took forever but we intentionally split it across two years to avoid doing restricting that road in hot, hot weather otherwise we would have got it all done last year,” Kachel said.
“It’s a little bit wetter now, but the idea was to be done before Canada Day so that its open in the hot weather.”
Kachel says once that water main is installed, crews will turn their attention to the final bit of paving work, which is set to be complete by mid-July.
“There will be like small little closures to do pavement markings and things like that, but the main bulk of the work is behind us now,” Kachel said. “We’re just focusing on tidying things up.”
For the latest updates on this project, go here.
