Come the end of June, the face of Hudson Avenue NE in Salmon Arm will be as beautiful as it’s going to get – at least for now.
The Hudson Avenue revitalization project has been planned for several years, with work getting underway in June of last year at the McGuire Lake end.
This spring, the work has been hard to miss as it has been moving down the south side of Hudson, along both sides of Fourth Street by Tim Hortons, and around the corner to the east side of Ross Street.
Work includes putting all the hydro and telephone lines underground and upgrading everything to the Town Centre standard, which includes decorative lighting, benches and hangers for flower beds.
City engineer Jenn Wilson says the main complaint her department has heard is regarding the laneway closure between the former 7-Eleven and the KFC running north-south from the Trans-Canada Highway to Hudson.
“We couldn’t get a right-of-way there. The main complaint has been about that – traffic movement and deliveries,” she says.
Work on the revitalization will be done or stop by the end of June, because the contract requests that it not take place during the summer months, she says. Some finishing touches might be required in the fall.
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Aesthetics as well as aging infrastructure have been the catalysts.
“I think the largest part is to beautify downtown, to encourage growth in the downtown core,” Wilson says.
Other work the public will notice downtown is the removal of some of the red brick crosswalks.
“Different materials age differently and settle differently, which causes an uneven surface,” she says, adding that consistent complaints have been received about the brick crosswalks being difficult to see. The bricks will be removed and the roads paved as the city continues its paving program, sometime in the fall.
Asked about other areas where the concrete appears to be crumbling, Wilson says it’s not her area of expertise but could be because “concrete and salt don’t play nicely together.”
@SalmonArm
marthawickett@saobserver.net
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