Road and access closures are in place along parts of Terminal Ave. in downtown Nanaimo, to accommodate concrete work over the next few weeks. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

on schedule

Concrete work forcing closures along Terminal Ave. in Nanaimo’s downtown

Feb 20, 2024 | 5:22 AM

NANAIMO — Ongoing construction work through the city’s downtown core will ramp up considerably over the coming weeks.

Pouring of concrete in specific locations began Thursday, Feb. 15 and will continue through mid-March, resulting in some access closures on and off Terminal Ave. between Commercial St. and Esplanade.

City project manager Michael Elliott said travellers through the downtown corridor will notice crews at three specific locations, capitalizing on work recently completed underground.

“The previous couple of weeks, the contractor was building the signal infrastructure [at Commercial St.]…the concrete closure will be on the A&B Sound side for Commercial St., not on the other side. Then the concrete will happen at Gordon St. and [Port Place Shopping Centre] access at the same time.”

At least a partial closure will be in place on Commercial St. by the former Jean Burns building, through March 1.

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Vehicle access to Gordon St. and Port Place Shopping Centre off Terminal Ave. is also restricted between Feb. 20 and Feb. 22 respectively, through to the first week of March.

“The concrete is intended to chase the contractor up towards Esplanade, so they’ll be working on the signals on Esplanade over the next couple of weeks then concrete will start up there.”

Elliott said the nature of the project is challenging and admitted it may appear not a lot of work is happening on any given day.

He added the project is going as fast as it can with the volume of traffic which moves through the region and is exactly on schedule.

“You don’t need to keep traffic going just in two directions, you also have to consider traffic could potentially come from any one of four directions, so that does make it a little bit trickier with the traffic control.”

Once concrete works wraps up next month paving is expected to follow, and Elliott expects work on the roadway to be completed by mid-April.

Landscaping and parks work will complete the project, which is being funded in part by senior government money.

Work on the project runs from Esplanade to Commercial St. and includes a re-work of the roadway as well as park development. (City of Nanaimo)

Elliott noted one major safety challenge crews have noted is people jaywalking to or from Port Place Shopping Centre, by the Italian Fountain.

“A lot of them still want to cross the highway and the traffic control people are trying to best to force you to go to the crosswalks. It’s a safety issue, it’s a construction site. When they’re asking you to cross at the crosswalks it’s for your own safety.”

More on the full scope of the project is available on the City’s website.

Drivers can expect lane and access closures along Terminal Ave. and some side streets for the remainder of February and into early March. (City of Nanaimo)

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