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Report suggests $600K upgrades for Coronation corridor in Duncan

It could take up to $617,000 for safety and operational upgrades in the Coronation Avenue area of Duncan
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Phil Kent

It could take up to $617,000 for safety and operational upgrades in the Coronation Avenue area of Duncan, according to an engineering report.

Borg Chan, a spokesman for ISL Engineering and Land Services, which prepared the report for the City of Duncan, presented the findings to Duncan’s city council on Monday, Aug. 15, as part of the city’s efforts to deal with safety concerns in the busy area.

The report covers the Coronation Avenue corridor between Ypres Street and west of the Trans Canada Highway.

As one of the two major east-west corridors that intersect the Trans Canada Highway with downtown Duncan, Coronation Avenue typically has high volumes of pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic.

In addition, Coronation Avenue is also a commercial truck route, BC Transit route and emergency-response route, as well as both a pedestrian and vehicular route to nearby Cowichan Secondary School.

According to ICBC records for the period between 2009-13, a total of 33 collisions were recorded in the corridor area.

The Ypres Street intersection has the highest number of accidents at 13, followed by the Festubert Street intersection, with 12.

Among the more substantial improvements to the corridor recommended in the report is to install traffic signals at the Festubert Street intersection at a cost of $350,000, providing advance-warning flashers and rapid-flashing beacons for pedestrians at the Ypres Street intersection, costing $105,000, and $40,000 to build a bicycle track along the whole corridor.

Duncan Mayor Phil Kent said the city decided to have the study prepared because it’s a “very busy corridor” where there have been a high number of accidents over the years, including high-school students being hit by vehicles as they cross the street.

“We wanted to take a look at what we can do there to make the corridor more safe,” Kent said.

“Now that we have the options and their costs, we’ll be discussing the issue with staff at our next committee of the whole meeting in September. We’ll determine what we want to do, based on the report’s findings, and it may be dealt with in a phased approach.”



Robert Barron

About the Author: Robert Barron

Since 2016, I've had had the pleasure of working with our dedicated staff and community in the Cowichan Valley.
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