Starting in February, you can expect delays on the highway between Selma Park Road and Nestman Road as the stretch of roadway gets $2.5 million in upgrades.
The highway section will see a widening of the shoulder in an effort to improve pedestrian safety, and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure expects crews to be working in the area for two to three months. The project will be funded with $1.25 million from the federal Infrastructure Stimulus Fund and $1.25 million from the province.
It's an expenditure the District of Sechelt is happy to see spent in an effort to alleviate some of Sechelt's highway concerns.
"I'm ecstatic about it. Its something we have worked on for many years on council, trying to secure the funding to improve that Selma Park corridor," said Sechelt Mayor Darren Inkster. "This council actually identified that particular area as a priority along with other areas in 2009."
He noted that the community also identified the roadway as being too narrow and that shoulder widening would allow for safer foot and bicycle traffic into Sechelt.
"We're delighted to see this come to fruition. Once the work is done, cyclists and pedestrians will be safer and mothers will be able to push strollers into Sechelt. It's important to our community. It's important to families, and it's important to the aging population that uses that area to walk," Inkster said.
A 1.5 metre shoulder will be added to the northbound side of the highway, and improvements will be made to drainage in the area during the two or three months that work will take place.
When asked if council was afraid they would not see money earmarked for this project after they said no to a controversial highway expansion in Davis Bay, Inkster admitted some were concerned.
"Some people were concerned about that, but what it comes down to is that if they [Ministry of Transportation] are not going to build a bypass, they need to look at improving the existing highway and this is an area that had been identified earlier. In the end we insisted they relook at the Selma Park plan, and they did," Inkster said.
For more information about this highway project, see www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/Hwy101_sechelt.
