Nanaimo is getting money from the B.C. government to build the Boundary Transportation Improvement Project.
BikeB.C., the province’s cost-sharing program that helps local governments construct cycling projects, is providing $120,000 toward the total cost of the project.
The bike commuter route will be a combination of buffered bike lanes and separated cycle track between Northfield Road and Bowen Road and is part of the city’s Hospital Area Project currently being undertaken to upgrade aging underground utilities and water mains that are failing due to poor soil conditions. As the work progresses, plans include new sidewalks and other improvements for pedestrians, upgrades for public transit services and dedicated cycling lanes on Bush Street, Pryde Avenue, Townsite Road, Boundary Crescent and Boundary Avenue.
The work is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.
“It’s an example of when we are able to deliver these larger integrated cycling projects it improves our chances of leveraging senior government funding and it gives us opportunity to have other funders come to the table and support those types of projects,” said Gordon Foy, city manager of transportation. “It’s a really great outcome for that project and for the city.”
Leo Boon, Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition chairman, said the upgrades will improve safety for cyclists along the route.
“It will definitely make it safer along Boundary Avenue and it’s going to connect all the way to [Vancouver Island University], which is great,” Boon said.
The grant is part of more than $3.69 million in BikeB.C. funding for 22 projects across the province that will help create more than $7.38 million in cycling lanes, paths and trails throughout 2015.
The province has committed nearly $155 million in cycling infrastructure province-wide since 2001.
For more information, please visit the BikeB.C. website at www.th.gov.bc.ca/BikeBC.