The first stage of upgrades to the Ring Road at McArthur Island will start next week.

The upgrades to Island Parkway are valued at $600,000. It will include repaving the southern section of road along the river from the old BMX park to west of the boat launch, and creating a 3-metre multi-use pathway.

The re-constructed multi-use path will be wider than the existing path to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians and separated from the roadway by a linear strip of turf grass to improve safety.

Work will begin next week and is expected to be complete by mid-August. Work will take place between 7:00 and 4:00, Monday to Friday.

The Ring Road has been closed to vehicular traffic due to the pandemic, but it is set to reopen on June 29 in conjunction with the opening of some sports fields. There will be a detour down the centre access road during construction.

The multi-use pathway will be closed to pedestrians Monday to Friday between 7 am and 4 pm starting June 23 through to mid-July and then from mid-July to mid-August, the pathway will be fully closed at all times.

The city was able to move ahead with this work thanks to the federal government coming through with nearly $2 million in Community Works funding.

When it comes to the Ring Road, Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian says anybody that has been out there would understand why that needs to be rebuilt. “That was one that we hadn’t previously had on our community works grant funding list, but there is a window of opportunity because of the suspension of tournament play and relatively low activity out there in terms of organized sports.”

Stage 2 of the project is being considered for 2021 and comes with an estimated price tag of

Phase 1 of the McArthur Island Ring Road Replacement Project will cost $600,000 and Phase 2, which is being considered for 2021, will cost $350,000.

There were two other projects that those Community Works dollars will go towards. There will be $731,334 that will be put towards an overpass over Summit Drive. Those dollars will be put in a pocket to eventually help increase safety for those walking to Thompson Rivers University.

“You will remember many, many issues related to people jay-walking across the Summit connector, a very dangerous situation and this money will go towards the overpass. The overpass is going to cost more than the $731,000 but it is a start towards that” says Christian. He says once enough money has been accumulated it will get that project underway.

Council also elected to put $63,000 back on the books to enhance the pickleball courts at Riverside Park.

Christian says the ask was relatively small. “It’s indicative of the fact that the pickleball club had certainly satisfied some of the conditions in terms of teaching youth to play pickleball and looking at regional kinds of tournament play as well as contributing to the enhance pickleball courts themselves.” Christian called the approval of those dollars a no-brainer.