With approximately seven kilometres of new paving on Highway 101 heading toward Lund, safety on the roadway has been improved markedly.
According to Rino Parise, area manager for the ministry of transportation and infrastructure, the work is nearly complete, with BA Blacktop having resurfaced the roadway.
“We’re still finishing up removing some driveway culverts near Craig Road, and BA will come back and finish up the work just around Craig Road, but it is small compared to the rest of it,” said Parise.
He said BA Blacktop is currently paving on the lower coast, so there is no definitive date yet for the completion of the project.
After the paving has been completed, Parise said line painting will be carried out.
“It’s important when we get into these darker months,” said Parise. “Hopefully, that will be completed this month, too.”
Parise said the Lund highway paving project has gone from Southview Road to Old Mine Road, which is slightly more than six kilometres in length. Just under a kilometre of paving has been done from Malaspina to Prior roads.
“Now, drivers should be able to go from Wildwood, all the way to Lund, with wider lanes and shoulders,” said Parise. “The project is long overdue, but it’s finally here; it is great.
“I’ve had a few people call me about the highway. One was a neighbour who has a motorcycle, and he phoned me and said, ‘I have to tell you, that was the best ride I’ve ever had to Lund.’ So that’s good and I’m glad.”
qathet Regional District Electoral Area A director Jason Lennox, who lives in Lund, is impressed with the project.
“The ministry of transportation has a lot of work to do, and limited budgets and manpower, and it should be acknowledged that with a limited budget they got the entire rest of that crucial highway repaved,” said Lennox. “It has been a long time coming. It helps to address some really significant safety concerns that I and Lund residents had. There were conditions that were just unsafe. I’ve had people tell me they didn’t feel safe taking their kids to the school bus. This will help those kinds of situations.
“Also, with our discussions around active transportation and people cycling more, it makes a difference.”
Lennox added that the highway improvement could lead to lessened maintenance on vehicles which regularly travel that stretch of highway.
He said when he met with ministry of transportation representatives at the recent Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention, they acknowledged the local staff, and Parise in particular, who pushed this project through to completion.
“There’s a real, sincere thank-you from the residents,” said Lennox. “I smile when I drive that highway.”
Other highway work scheduled for this fall is paving on Highway 101 from Alberni Street to the old gate at the new resource-recovery centre, and in front of the new gate. Parise said that paving will not go the complete distance from Alberni to the new gate, but the roadway will be much better than what is in place now.
The highway, in front of Willingdon Beach, had been excavated so water lines could be run to the resource-recovery centre. City of Powell River is partnering with the ministry of transportation, providing funds for the repaving of the highway section from Alberni to the lower gate.
“The city is the one that put the water line in, so they have committed to their share of their funds for repaving,” said Parise. “It’s good to note that we are working together with the city to have that done because it was them that put the water line in.
“They were obligated to do their half of the highway where they dug it up. What happened is we thought, if they have the money set aside to pave it, we should do the whole stretch of highway at once.”
Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
