Work to make a high-crash Nanaimo intersection safer has been delayed again.
City politicians have given the green light to tender upgrades for the three-way intersection at Boundary Avenue, Northfield Road and Highway 19A, considered one of the worst areas for vehicle collisions on Vancouver Island.
The project, estimated at $3.1-million, is anticipated to get underway this fall – more than a year after funding was announced for a project that was supposed to break ground in late 2015.
The intersection is one of the “highest concern locations” for the City of Nanaimo and British Columbia’s Ministry of Transportation because of the sheer number of collisions, a staff report shows. There were 340 collisions at the site between 2007-11.
There’s a plan to make the intersection safer, with a smoother road over the tracks and a new southbound acceleration lane from Northfield Road to the highway. But work has gone off track twice.
In 2014, upgrades were put on hold as the city faced increased costs for the project. Last year, B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced the province will cover half the cost for improvements, then budgeted at $3 million. Work was slated to begin last fall, but didn’t go ahead.
Poul Rosen, the city’s senior manager of engineering, said the main wrinkle was around rail design, and called the intersection’s railroad crossing one of the most significant complications in a “very complex” project.
Without the railroad, the project would have been done decades ago, he said, adding the federal rail crossing standards that have to be abided by now make it difficult and costly to upgrade rail crossings and any road work anywhere near a rail crossing.
Rosen said it’s one of the most high-priority projects and driven by safety improvements. Because of that, he said, the city does want to get the project completed as soon as possible.
There are no dates for the release of the tender, but construction is anticipated this fall.
The city’s budget for the project is $2.6 million and includes water main upgrades.
Council also committed to split the cost of an advanced train warning system with the province, an estimated $600,000, if there’s passenger rail or increased freight activity on the railway.