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You're invited: Information session on 2nd Ave. project

Session runs from 6-8 p.m. tonight
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Residents are invited to attend a public information session about the upcoming infrastructure improvements to Second Avenue at Pius XII, 44 Third Ave., between 6 and 8 p.m. tonight to obtain information, review the traffic safety plan and ask questions. (File)

Residents are invited to attend a public information session to learn more about the upcoming infrastructure improvements to Second Avenue in Minnow Lake as well as to view and comment on the project’s traffic safety plan.

Residents can drop into Pius XII Catholic School, 44 Third Ave., between 6 and 8 p.m. on April 24 (tonight) to obtain information, review the traffic safety plan and ask questions.

The intent of the traffic safety plan is to describe the operation, monitoring and maintenance of the safety features that have been incorporated into the design of the project.

Construction is anticipated to start in May 2017 and will include the widening and reconstruction of Second Avenue from Donna Drive to First Avenue, which would also include a bike path and sidewalks for pedestrians. Water main improvements and reconstruction of the roadway on Margaret Street are also part of the infrastructure improvements.

After years of delay and cost increases in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the province finally approved the city's Second Avenue plans in January.

Budgeted last year at $6.6 million, costs for the project have increased by about $800,000 since it was first announced.

The project will widen Second Avenue to five lanes from Donna Drive to Scarlett Road, and three lanes from Scarlett Road to Kenwood Street.

City staff have said the five lanes are needed because of heavy traffic counts along that stretch of Second — 15,000 vehicles a day — as well as the added traffic demands of future residential construction planned in Minnow Lake.

The project will combine the entrance to the Civic Memorial Cemetery and the Minnow Lake Dog Park, and align the new entrance across from Scarlett, where a traffic light will be installed.

The project was revised in 2014 to move up planned drainage work, allowing it to incorporate raised bike lanes along both sides of Second Avenue. The bike lanes will connect from Donna Drive to Bancroft Avenue. 

Public objections to some of the details of the project have delayed it for the past three years. When a group or individual asks for a more stringent environmental review — as was the case with Second Avenue — the project can't proceed until the province decides whether the request is warranted.


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