Northbound traffic is shut down along Terminal Ave. beginning Tuesday, May 21 to allow for paving work. Detours are in place directing traffic down Front St. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

expect delays

Paving begins along Terminal Ave. in downtown Nanaimo

May 21, 2024 | 11:18 AM

NANAIMO — Crew have begun laying asphalt as work along the highway through the city’s downtown enters the home stretch.

Paving work started Tuesday, May 21 with crews working in the northbound lanes of Terminal Ave., forcing a closure and detour for vehicles travelling from south to north.

Cars are being re-routed along Crace St. to Esplanade and Front St., before re-joining Terminal Ave. at Maffeo Sutton Park. Southbound vehicles are largely unaffected for now, albeit travel through the area is slow.

“We have two days where they’ll be milling out the old asphalt and two days where they’re going to be paving, so that’s the detours that will be in effect by Friday [May 24],” Phil Stewart, City manager of engineering projects, said. “If the weather cooperates we’ll be finished paving by the weekend.”

Sections of side streets feeding onto Terminal Ave., including here at Commercial St. and Wallace St., are closed throughout the work. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Work and subsequent closures are scheduled to start at 7 a.m. each day and go through until 9 p.m. at the latest when travel in both directions will be reinstated.

Access to Terminal Ave. from side streets, including Commercial St., Gordon St. and Esplanade is also closed off.

Stewart noted paving is weather-dependent so it’s possible the interruptions will continue into the week of Monday, May 27.

“We’re seeing the construction on Terminal Ave. come to the end here and the light at the end of the tunnel. We should be wrapped up on the road by the end of June…then landscaping by the end of July.”

Line painting will follow the laying of asphalt, however there could be some brief lane closures through June.

Stewart told NanaimoNewsNOW a plan is in place for large commercial trucks to not have to make the detour.

“When large truck enters the site, the traffic control personnel hold the south bound traffic before the site and large trucks are routed north on the southbound lanes.”

Detours are in place for northbound traffic through downtown Nanaimo for at least the next week between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. each day. (City of Nanaimo)

The paving work is one of the final parts to upgrade the downtown corridor from Esplanade to Commercial St. which have taken the better part of a year.

Included in the project are park enhancements to the Italian Fountain, as well as medians and sidewalk improvements.

Underground infrastructure upgrades were also made earlier in the project.

“We’ve taken a methodical approach to this project and it may have taken a little bit longer than we anticipated,” Stewart said. “The intent was to balance the schedule with the impact to the public, in places where we could have had multiple crews working, we chose to keep delays to the point of being able to move through the downtown.”

Cost of the project is estimated to be $7.3 million and remains on budget, with the underground work accounting for a larger percentage of the final price tag.

As of summer 2023, the province had committed $1.2 million towards the final bill.

Traffic control personnel are working on site, directing southbound vehicles through the work zone. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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