The City of Kamloops says a traffic pattern change at the south end of Overlanders Bridge is here to stay.
It will be making permanent the changes that have been in place since April with crews swapping out the temporary wooden traffic barricades with concrete replacements.
“We got delayed a little bit since early September because we had that fencing project happening and that was closing a lane off so you can’t have two projects happening in one spot, but yeah, we are looking to get those barricades replaced,” the City’s Development, Engineering, and Sustainability Director, Marvin Kwiatkowski, told NL News.
“So yeah, what you see there today, we’re just going to make that a little bit more permanent and get that kind of buttoned up before the snow flies.”
Crews began working today, Oct. 26, with Kwiatkowski expecting all of the work – including the installation of signs and some painting – to take about a week to complete.
“It is not like we are going to have a concrete curbing machine out there and do a whole lot of work, its more concrete no-post barriers and signage and that sort of thing that is being installed,” he said.
“It is fairly quick and affordable and if, for some reason, we have to open up a lane if there is some sort of emergency situation, we just lift a couple of those barricades up and away we go.”
These changes come after a successful pilot project that gave North Shore bound vehicles on the Summit Connector a free-flow lane to the bridge, while moving all traffic heading across the Thompson River from West Victoria Street to the existing free-flow lane on the left.
Vehicles from downtown heading towards Mission Flats or Summit Drive were not impacted.
“Since the spring pilot, I hadn’t received any negatives. I think there would be negatives if we moved it back to what it was,” Kwiatkowski added. “We had a lot of positives for the most part.”
“I know we dealt with some concerns from adjacent businesses in regards to their trucks that turn in and come out but I think we have those addressed fairly well.”
Following a pilot study earlier this year that resulted in a permanent traffic pattern change, crews will be removing the temporary barricades at the Overlanders Bridge on-ramp from Victoria St W and replacing them with permanent structures. Original story https://t.co/bUTH246Rn3 pic.twitter.com/eU8XTonWRp
— City of Kamloops (@cityofkamloops) October 25, 2022
