Condition of Third Avenue Sidewalks to be addressed through Re:Build Rupert

The sidewalks along an eight block stretch of Third Avenue West will be the first project that local residents will be taking take notice of, as part of the recently announced Re:Build Rupert program.

The city announced the sidewalk renovation project today through a media release, heralding the work to come as part of its plan to address the growing infrastructure issues across the city.

As well, the City has signalled that the project is just the start of plans for the downtown region, with Mayor Lee Brain set to seek more community engagement on how the area should look in the future.

The City's engineering Department has awarded the contract for the project to the local company Rupert Wood'n Steel. No details were released as to the terms of the contract for the work, nor as to the number of bids, if any, submitted for consideration by the City for the five year program.

Sidewalks along an Eight block stretch of Third Avenue West
will be renovated over the next five years

The renovation project is anticipated to take place over the course of five years, with the company to contact business owners ahead of reconstruction to minimize the impact on their operations.

"We are pleased to initiate the revitalization of our downtown core. This is part of Council's new 'Re:Build Rupert' initiative to address our aging infrastructure needs,” ... “In the long term, we would like to begin a community engagement process to identify how 3rd Ave could look in the future with residents and small businesses alike.' -- Mayor Lee Brain on Re:build Prince Rupert and plans to address infrastructure concerns in the city

The Re:Build Rupert concept was announced earlier this year by the Mayor, with the city's water lines and dam infrastructure among the top items on the list of projects to tackle.

You can review the City's talking points on the sidewalk project here.

The Third Avenue Sidewalk plan marks the second major project in the downtown core in recent months. Frequent visitors to the downtown area may have also have noticed the ongoing work on the Fraser Street rebuild project in the downtown core.

The first phase of that much anticipated and wide ranging project appears to be running a little behind schedule at this point, with further remediation for that street planned for 2016. It should be noted however, that those plans were outlined well before the city's launch of the Re:Build Rupert program.

For more items related to City Council developments see our archive page here.