The City of Kamloops is eyeing $500,000 in grant funding to help pay for a new 1.3 kilometre long multi-use pathway along Highway 5A, connecting Aberdeen Drive to Summit Drive.
Transportation Manager, Purvez Irani, told council this section of pathway is part of the proposed North-South bike lane corridor running from Aberdeen to Batchelor Heights, as outlined in the Transportation Master Plan.
“In fact, this is the last section to the south of the corridor,” Irani said. “There is a roughed in kind of pathway (the Sifton Loop Trail) that already exists there today. We would be obviously paving this section and lighting it.”
In his report to council Tuesday, Irani said cyclists would then connect to the existing Summit Drive painted bike lanes, as pictured above.
While work on the new protected multi-use pathway isn’t expected to take place until 2024, Irani says there is grant funding available from the province this year. The city is eyeing the 2022/23 BC Active Transportation Infrastructure Grant Program which is meant to pay for “safe, accessible, and convenient” active transportation networks.
Successful applicants will get a maximum of $500,000 to pay for 50 per cent of eligible project costs.
“The grant will not determine whether we are moving ahead with the project, the project is already in our capital plan and we’ve had consultation with the Kamloops Cycling Coalition who’ve also supported us with this grant application,” Irani told council Tuesday.
“The project is approximately $2.5 million. If we are successful, we would receive $500,000 and that money could go and help out with other active transportation projects.”
The North-South bike lane corridor includes the Summit multi-use pathway, which is nearing completion, and the Sixth Avenue Bike Lane, which will be ready by next spring.
The City has already gotten $4 million in grant funding to use on those two portions of the North-South bike lane corridor.