The city of Kamloops says two months of road construction work in the Sahali area will get underway next Monday, June 14.

Capital Projects Manager Darren Crundwell says BA Dawson Blacktop Ltd. has been hired as the prime contractor for the $2.6 million project which consist of three components as noted below:

• Columbia Street West from McGill Road to Notre Dame Drive (highway boundary), Summit Drive between McGill Road and Columbia Street West, and Notre Dame Drive between Columbia Street West and Summit Drive will be milled and repaved, including modified right-turn channels at the intersection of Notre Dame Drive and Summit Drive and various median and boulevard modifications
• water main upgrades along Notre Dame Drive from Columbia Street West to Summit Drive
• traffic signal upgrades to the intersection of Columbia Street West and Notre Dame Drive

“Work will start on Notre Dame Drive, which will result in a closure of Notre Dame Drive to westbound traffic,” Crundwell said. “A detour will be provided to westbound traffic via Summit Drive. This portion of the project is expected to take approximately three weeks.”

“Combining the three portions of the project will reduce the impact on the public and area businesses and save money.”

As reported by NL News two weeks ago, there will be some night work taking place to lessen the impact to commuters in the area. Crundwell says the City will also work closely with Kamloops Fire and Rescue, BC Ambulance Service, the RCMP, and BC Transit, to ensure service is maintained through the construction area.

“We’ll be milling during the day but we’ll doing the paving work at night. Its a bit of a premium to be paving at night but we’ll be a lot more efficient. Traffic volumes are 50 to 60 per cent at night of what they are during the day so we’ll try and limit the impact to the public by doing that work at night,” Crundwell added.

There will be a minimum of two travel lanes (one in each direction) maintained through the work zone. If that is not possible, there will be a detour route. Drivers are being told to expect congestion and delays while work in underway.

“We don’t want to tell the public to avoid the corridor, we want people to support the businesses but if you’re not going to a business in that area and you can go around, obviously, we’d appreciate if you do go around,” Crundwell added, noting there will be pedestrian access through the work zone.

“There’s a lot of ways around that area because it will be quite congested while we undertake this construction work.”

For the latest on road and detour information, go online here.

The Sahali area will be getting an extensive facelift this summer with upgrades coming to the Columbia Street West Corridor. See the full project description here:https://t.co/PQV5zZhDTd#kamloops #kammute pic.twitter.com/RO8yK7UbSz

— City of Kamloops (@cityofkamloops) June 7, 2021