Quesnel City Council has now approved the general concept for the revitalization of Reid Street in downtown Quesnel.
It will go down to one lane from two to allow for wider sidewalks and the parking will remain the same with parallel parking on one side and angle parking on the other.
That was the preferred option out of three following public consultation, although Mayor Bob Simpson noted that they weren’t looking for public consensus because he felt that it wasn’t possible and that it would be a Council decision.
There also wasn’t unanimous consensus on Council as both Shushil Thapar and Ron Paull were opposed to going down to just one lane.
Director of Capital Works and Infrastructure Ken Coombs…
“With this very wide lane, it’s 5.7 metres or almost 19 feet wide, you could drive two vehicles side by side, but it would be an undersized lane.”
Paull then asked then why not put a line in the middle and have two lanes but Coombs noted that it wouldn’t meet the standard 7.3 metres in the rest of the City.
The vote was 4-2 in favour as Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg was absent.
The estimated cost of the project is between 5 and 5.3 million dollars.
Another part of this plan to to change Bowron down to one westbound lane onto Front Street with possible angle parking on both sides.
Staff will now proceed with the detailed design phase.
There will still be another public meeting to do some fine tuning on things like parking.
It is hoped that the project can go out to tender in the fall so that work can begin in the spring.