If there was a single point on which most everyone at a Dec. 4 public open house on the Overlanders Bridge resurfacing project agreed, it was this: No one wants a repeat of the delay and frustration that plagued the last major civic-improvement project on the North Shore.
For approximately five months next spring and summer, the city plans to resurface and repair the bridge crossed by approximately 42,000 vehicles per day.
But, several business owners in the nearby Tranquille Market area said they want to see the city expedite the project as much as possible, even if it means adding millions to the already more than $9-million price tag.
Donut King owner Xuan Nguyen agreed the bridge needs to be resurfaced for the first time in 25 years, but urged the city to investigate a 24/7 construction cycle to try to shave some months off the construction time.
“If you speak to every business on the North Shore, they’ll agree to it,” he said, adding the city’s investment would pay off in the long run by minimizing damage to businesses during traffic disruptions and delays that will come with the project.
The city last undertook major construction on the North Shore in 2013, when it upgraded lighting, traffic lights and walkways through the Tranquille Market.
The project stretched months past its projected completion date and, business owners say, deterred shoppers on foot and in vehicles.
“I should have just shut down for the fall,” recalled Renato Uliana, whose Sorriso Ristorante relies on the South Shore for about half of its lunch business. He believes the same customers who stayed away in 2013 will again avoid the North Shore once work on Overlanders begins and said the only fix is a shorter construction window.
“Five months, it’ll kill us,” he said.
Bobbi Farrer and Norm Gardner of Psychocity Tattoo said the scope of the project — which includes repaving the Tranquille Road overpass above Fortune Drive, West Victoria Street and the approachways on both sides of the bridge — should have everyone in the city pushing for a faster construction time.
“It’s not impacting just Tranquille — and we’ve already gone through our crap over the last few years,” Farrer said.
“It’s affecting Fortune Drive, it’s affecting McArthur Island — and in the summer during tourist season and tournament season.”
Gardner said the city needs to look at issues beyond cost when it selects a contractor.
“When you take the lowest bid, you’re going to stretch the job,” he said.
City of Kamloops capital-projects manager Darren Crundwell told KTW the city is looking at what it can do to encourage contractors to approach the project innovatively when they bid, and work quickly if they’re selected, but he’s skeptical the time needed to complete the reconstruction can be pared down to the point many would prefer.
“There’s too much work and, sequencing this work, you can only get so efficient, to the point where it doesn’t make sense to bring in more equipment and more men,” he said.
“There’s a lot of commodities in here, a lot of concrete and asphalt. You’re at the mercy of some of those things for doing a project like this.”
Crundwell said staff does plan to take a variety of options for completing the bridge to council, including those that may be faster or more convenient — but, also more expensive.
And, he believes the city has learned from previous issues on Tranquille.
“The communication will be better,” Crundwell said, adding he believes the city knows more about how to structure major capital contracts than it did in 2013.
DISCOVER THE NORTH SHORE?
Not everyone is convinced a planned restoration of Overlanders Bridge has to result in a major hit to North Shore businesses.
“We have a very real opportunity to encourage people on the North Shore to shop North Shore,” Coun. Dieter Dudy said.
“Everything they get on the South Shore, they can find in their own community.”
North Shore Business Improvement Association executive director Steven Puhallo agreed the shop-local message will be key during construction season.
“You try to see the silver lining of everything,” he said.
“We’ll look at this as an opportunity to show people . . . there’s some great stuff there. It may not be laid out in a big mall in front of you, but it’s there if you look around.”
However, Puhallo cautioned, a third traffic disruption to North Shore in four years (besides the lighting upgrade in 2013, the Tranquille Road overpass shut down for a period if time in 2012 after being clipped by a tractor trailer) will likely leave some businesses hurting.
“I’ve already had two businesses call up and say they’re shutting their doors,” Puhallo said. “They’re going to move out of the Tranquille Market corridor.”
Dudy, meanwhile, thinks some South Shore businesses have not yet realized what impact the Overlanders project, combined with two months of construction planned on Columbia Street, could have on them.
Dudy said the downtown Kamloops Regional Farmers’ Market, where his farm is a vendor, is one operation that may take a hit if Columbia construction deters shoppers from Sahali and Aberdeen and the bridge works deters those from the North Shore.
“We could be quite seriously impacted on this,” he said.
SMILE, YOU’RE ON OVERLANDERS CAMERA
The first month of the $9-million Overlanders Bridge project will likely have very little to do with the bridge itself.
Capital-projects manager Darren Crundwell said the city expects its contractor will first tackle paving work on West Victoria Street and the Tranquille Road overpass, as well as the bridge’s access ramps and approaches.
Crews will also begin work on the western sidewalk of the bridge, which has degraded to the point where it sometimes sloughs concrete onto traffic passing below.
At this point, it will likely only minimally disrupt traffic.
Once that work is complete, Crundwell said, workers will strip the asphalt and waterproof membrane from the bridge and repair the concrete underneath.
“We’re confident right now we’re removing at least two-thirds of the intermediate expansion deck joints,” Crundwell said. “So, it will be a much smoother ride.”
A new waterproof membrane and new asphalt surface will complete the bridge deck.
Crundwell said it’s likely the public will be able to watch the process in real time. The city is considering installing a live-feed camera overlooking the bridge to allow people to keep an eye on the work.
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