The $2.8 million Spadina Avenue project is winding down.
This summer saw the road closed to traffic as the roadway and parking areas at the west end of Spadina were totally ripped up and redone between August and the end of November 2020.
New medians will feature street trees, landscaping, and new LED street lighting.
“This project incorporates the vision of a Neighbourhood Greenway as recommended in the Downtown Land Use and Development Plan (2010),” according to City of Chilliwack on the project.
Neighbourhood greenways are “enhanced pedestrian and bicycle connections linking key activity nodes and residential neighbourhoods” in the planning speak of city hall.
Approximately 530 metres of road reconstruction was paved, and a tree-lined buffer will run between the sidewalk and the travel lane.
Median curbing, trees, landscaping, irrigation and street lighting should be all done by early December.
The new configuration will mean a reduction in available parking by 50 stalls but the parking lot expansion planned for next to the Curling Club is expected to make up for those lost parking spaces.
A new centre median will mean some residents won’t be able to turn left into their driveways so they built in three mid-block crossings through the median to permit u-turns.
Both sides of Spadina will be receiving new sidewalks as well as along the centre median.
The treed median idea was to have it resemble the treed look of Spadina to the east, where pink ornamental plum trees used to bloom every spring on the grassy median before they were removed.
The road is back open to traffic with intermittent delays.
READ MORE: Road was closed to traffic in August
READ MORE: Bike lanes added to Spadina plan
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