Staff
The town is advising that the Portage Avenue underpass will be completely closed to through traffic next Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and again Friday (July 31) from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Motorists will have to use McIrvine Road to gain access to and from the north end during these periods.
Emergency vehicles will have access through the construction zone if there’s an incident in the north end.
However, during the installation of the sanitary sewer line, there may be some periods when emergency vehicles will have to use the Victoria Avenue emergency railway crossing to gain access to/from the north end of the community.
This third underpass closure is necessary to ensure public safety since the contractor will be removing the existing west concrete laneway, preparing the granular sub-base under the new west laneway, and installing 45 metres of 300 mm diameter PVC sanitary sewer line on the south approach of Portage Avenue, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown noted this morning.
The new west sidewalk, complete with a two-foot high curb and new handrail, will be completed by Tuesday, Brown added.
Re-aligning the existing east-side pedestrian walkway to the new west sidewalk tentatively is scheduled for Wednesday.
There will be no more changes to the sidewalk alignment through the Portage Avenue underpass for the rest of the construction.
Work this week included pouring the concrete slab for the new west sidewalk, and well as the installation of all reinforcing steel for the new sidewalk curb and the repositioning of the west laneway catch basins.
Crews currently are forming and pouring the two-foot high slope side sidewalk curb.
