Kamloops City Council will be taking another look at a proposed lansdowne Street multi-use pathway project.
An administrative report was first brought forward to council in mid-October but council postponed amendment to the Transportation Master Plan until more consultation with downtown businesses happened.
City staff hosted a public engagement period, including an online survey and open house, which found that the public is “generally supportive of the project.”
According to a report headed to council on Tuesday, staff have identified Lansdowne Street as a potential connection to complete a gap in the city’s active transportation network.
The report says that, if council approves the proposal, the construction of major utility upgrades would be done alongside the multi-use pathway and could begin as early as next year.
A city-hired consultant found that a multi-use path between 2nd Avenue and 6th Avenue was the most appropriate location for Lansdowne Street given the corridor’s “constraints.”
The path would be between 3.1 metres and 3.5 metres wide with a landscaped buffer between the path and the street.
“The proposed multi-use pathway would require the removal of four on-street parking stalls on the northside of Lansdowne Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue,” says the report.
“The businesses adjacent to these parking stalls were engaged and were not concerned about the removal of on-street parking.”
To accommodate the multi-use path, the travel lanes on Lansdowne would be narrowed from between 4.1 and 3.8 metres to 3.5 metres between 2nd and 6th avenues, something staff say aligns with the "Kamloops Vision Zero Road Safety Strategy, as research has shown that narrower lane widths can help lower the risk of traffic collisions."
The pathway between 3rd and 4th avenues would have separate areas for cyclists and pedestrians to accommodate the higher pedestrian volumes observed in that area.
Staff say the estimated cost for the new path is $2.75 million, which can be covered by the city’s existing active transportation budget.
Should council approve the multi-use path the Lansdowne Street and Renfrew Avenue/10th Street sidewalk projects would be postponed and the city would have to look at $20,000 being added to the snow budget so snow can be hauled away from this portion of Lansdowne Street.
However, the city is expected to save some money on the City Centre Sanitary Sewer project if it is carried out alongside the Lansdowne Street multi-use path.
