Some Dog Days of road construction for Prince Rupert

The work on the McBride Street project seems to be a tad behind
schedule with little happening these days along the main route into town

With paving crews reportedly working on the Digby Island Road project these days, much of the in town paving in Prince Rupert seems to have come to a standstill and for the most part, a few of the major projects in town still appear nowhere near the finishing line just yet.

Many of the projects on the paving to do list came as part of the City's million dollar paving plan outlined in April this year following the delivery of  additional funding through the Federal Gas Tax program

A quick drive around town these days however offers up a glimpse of some of the still to be completed projects, with the McBride Street water project still providing for some traffic disruptions as we make the turn towards the end of August.

The project which started in mid June, came with a timeline of four to six weeks, something which now seems somewhat an ambitious forecast, with this week marking the ninth week and counting for work on the project.

Another area where the roadwork continues is in the 7th Avenue East/Green Street area of the east side of the city, where 7th East remains closed and Green Street is impassible as infrastructure work continues on.

The work which is adjacent to the soon to be opened Metlakatla Elders/Seniors Village started in May with a target date of early September for completion indicated at the time.

7th Avenue East as well as Green Street are still closed to traffic
as work continues on road infrastructure in the area

A few projects did get knocked off the to do list so far this summer with work on George Hills Way and Drydock road completed in late July, as well as some work downtown on Sixth Street.

Another was the repaving of Wantage Road from the Lester Centre to the City's Work Yard, with some extra black top for the Lester Centre Parking Lot included in that work.

Another project, which while not under the supervision of the City of Prince Rupert is still a high profile job and one which probably brings in a few calls into City Hall about, is the seemingly stalled crosswalk project at the Bank Of Montreal on Second Avenue West.

As we outlined on the blog in July, that remediation work, is part of a larger Ministry of Transportation project to improve crosswalks along the busy Second Avenue West thoroughfare.

In our notes of last month, the City's Communications Director noted that while not a City of Prince Rupert project, it was their understanding that the Ministry and contractor were awaiting a break in the weather for work to continue.

The Second Avenue crosswalk project has been stalled for weeks now
with the last bit of work done and fencing set up in mid July

As most Rupert weather watchers may have noticed, most of the days since mid July have been pretty Sun Filled , so perhaps an update from the Ministry as to the status of the project might be worth City Council's time to follow up on.

Should they have anything to share with the public on any of the ongoing projects that seem somewhat stalled, City Council has a golden opportunity for an update coming up on Monday, when they host their only Council session for the month of August.

It offers a chance for them to provide a little hope for residents that the never ending string of road closures and incomplete crosswalks may one day find a completion date.

For more items of note related to the city's road infrastructure see our archive page here, a wider overview of Council Discussion themes can be explored here.

To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.