City engineer Peter Judd loved the late Len Norriss cartoons in the Vancouver Sun as a child, and recalls this time each year Norris would depict city workers leaning on shovels. Its tourist season, so time to dig up the roads.
Thats how I think people feel about the work sometimes. We dig the street[s] up just at the time when we want to show our city at its best, Judd said.
But traffic volumes are lower and the ground is drier this time of year, so work, especially sewer work, can be completed quicker.
Nearly 70 per cent of the citys estimated 130 construction projects planned for 2011 will be undertaken this summer.
The intersection at Dunbar and Southwest Marine Drive is closed while traffic to the University of B.C. is decreased so the city can replace an 80-year-old combined sewage and storm water pipe with two separate pipes. This prevents sewer overflows and floods that can occur during heavy rains.
Down in that area, sewers get very, very deep, Judd said. Theres no way to get that deep and keep the road open.
Crews are working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week and the full closure is expected to last at least until mid July. Diversions and delays will slow traffic there all month but access to area businesses is being maintained. Trucks should use Granville and 41st avenue as a detour. Dunbar from 19th Avenue south will be upgraded with work to be complete by December.
Sewer work on 49th avenue, from Beechwood to Yew and Vine to Larch, is scheduled to occur in August.
Metro Vancouver is replacing aging water mains along West 16th Avenue between Sasamat and Arbutus streets. Work between MacDonald and Arbutus streets is expected to take approximately two months. Westbound traffic is to be reduced to a single lane with right turns only. Eastbound traffic is to be directed to Broadway or King Edward. Street parking on 16th will be temporarily unavailable. The eastbound Bus No. 33 is to be diverted to King Edward between MacDonald and Arbutus during traffic rerouting. The project should wrap up in May.
B.C. Hydros work to increase the reliability of electricity in the city is expected to cause traffic delays on Drake Street from Pacific to Richards starting today, on Richards from Drake to Dunsmuir, July 25 to the end of August. Work focuses on West Seventh Avenue between Laurel and Cambie, July 12 to 22. Work at Alberta and Broadway happens July 23 and 24.
Water main upgrades on Beach Avenue are slated to end by September.
On the East Side, work on Knight Street between 54th and 59th avenues, which includes the construction of left-turn bays at 57th avenue and upgraded sewer lines, is expected to include road closures, congestion and delays until December.
Two sections of Kingsway are being repaved. Work from Moss to Joyce starts in early August for two weeks and in late August/early September for Fraser to Knight. Work is expected to wrap up by November. The city recycles pavement and concrete wherever possible.
Sewer and water line upgrades are slowing traffic on East Second Avenue between Scotia and Main. That work is expected to end by August. The new sewer line will increase heat for the neighbourhood energy utility that was established with the Olympic Village. The work is also part of the citys goal of separating its sewage and storm water pipes by 2050.
Weve gradually been cleaning up False Creek and this is a real milestone because it will make the east part of it, which is the most problematic, cleaner, Judd said.
For more information about public work projects in the city, see Vancouver.ca/roadahead.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
