The City of Kamloops is soliciting feedback on its plans to add a multi-use pathway along Lansdowne Street between Second and Sixth Avenues in conjunction with a planned sewer main upgrade next year.

Resident and business owners will be able to voice their input at an information session at the Delta Hotel downtown between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 16.

“[The] community can learn about the proposed active transportation project along the Lansdowne corridor, provide feedback, and ask questions of City staff to better understand the implications of the project,” the City said, in a statement Wednesdays.

City staff say they will also share information about the sewer upgrades which will run along Lansdowne Street from 7th Avenue to Riverside Park.

“This critical infrastructure project, funded by Development Cost Charges, is part of the initial phase of the City Centre Sanitary Upgrades group of projects and is required to support expected density increases in the contributing areas, specifically the Central Business District,” the City statement said.

“This project must proceed as scheduled to accommodate the increasing demand, as the existing network has reached capacity in many areas.”

The plan as it stands is to carve out a multi-use pathway along the north side of Lansdowne Street, while maintaining the two-lanes of one-way traffic. It is the final portion of the City’s north-south Active Transportation corridor. The most recent stretch of that corridor – the Sixth Avenue Bike Lane – officially opened in early October.

Last month, Kamloops council voted to hit pause on a plan to apply for grant money to fund the $2.75 million pathway project. Councillors said they were waiting on more community consultation before deciding whether or to proceed.

“It’s quite possible the sanitary project may happen, and then a couple of years down the road, this would be a separate project, if the Active Transportation engagement group basically provides that recommendation,” Transportation Manager, Purvez Irani told Radio NL last month.

In its statement Wednesday, the City said coordinating the construction of the multi-use pathway and the sewer upgrades “would reduce costs and minimize construction impacts for residents and businesses.”

The results of an online survey – which will be active until 3 p.m. on November 20 – and the information session will go before the December 5 City council meeting where the future of the Multi-Use Pathway Project will be decided.

“The area between 6th Avenue and Riverside Park/the Rivers Trail is currently a missing link in the Kamloops north-south active transportation corridor,” the City statement added.

“Staff have identified Lansdowne Street as a potential connection to complete this missing link, by connecting the 6th Avenue protected bike lane and the Lansdowne Transit Exchange with Riverside Park and the Rivers Trail.”

If the Lansdowne multi-use pathway project goes ahead, it would mean four of the 62 existing on-street parking stalls – in front of Drake Cremation & Funeral Services’ and Rays Lock and Key – would be removed.

The right-turn lane from Lansdowne Street to Second Avenue would also be removed, with city staff saying its “underutilized and often blocked by rail traffic.”

The Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association said it is supportive of the proposed multi-use pathway, if done correctly.

“We recognize the need for an expedited process regarding the Lansdowne pathway project because of an approaching deadline for grant funding, as well as the time constraints due to the pending upgrade along Lansdowne which could merge with this pathway project [but] it just seems like things haven’t really had due process,” Executive Director Howie Reimer said last month.

For more information on the project and to take the survey, go here.