Major road work is happening on Chemainus Road as part of the Chemainus downtown revitalization; it started Tuesday.
Residents are reminded there will be traffic disruptions.
North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring noted there is no “good time” to do the work for the businesses that will be impacted and asked David Conway, the municipality’s director of engineering, for input on how to best deal with the concerns.
“The road is four lanes for the most part, so we do have a fair amount of asphalt to work with while we’re doing the utility work,” Conway indicated.
“As for the sidewalk work, it has to be done at the same time as the utility replacements but that work is progressive in that we’ll be back filling behind us as we complete the work as the project progresses.”
North Cowichan is upgrading the portion of Chemainus Road between Henry Road and Victoria Street in order to improve the accessibility and safety of the arterial road. The project was first proposed and envisioned by the community through development of the 2011 Chemainus Town Centre Revitalization Plan.
The underground utilities construction will take four months from mid-November 2019 to mid-March 2020.
The starting point of underground construction will be Victoria Street and Chemainus Road.
Construction will typically end at 5:30 p.m. every day and both lanes will be left open, unless unusual circumstances cause the crew to work longer to complete a task.
The construction will not occur on weekends, again unless unusual circumstances require it.
Phase 2 above ground surface work will follow for another seven months from mid-March 2020 to mid-September.
—with a file from Robert Barron