Open house scheduled ahead of major Tranquille Road sewer main, beautification project

KAMLOOPS — A two-year-long project to replace a sewer main on Tranquille Road is expected to get underway by early summer and wrap up by the fall of next year.

The City of Kamloops’ Infrastructure Delivery Divisional Manager Matt Kachel says crews will be working between Crestline Street and Southill Street.

“The driving factor on this one is the replacement of the last section of the sanitary sewer than runs through there,” Kachel said. “The first two phases took care of some of it, and this last phase is the final phase that we’re going to stitch in.”

“It also comes with lots of improvements on the surface, including new sidewalks and a new multi-use path.”

The city says Tranquille Road is an integral east-west active transportation corridor that was identified in the Transportation Master Plan. It says this design “will provide a safer setting for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.”

The proposed work will include a 1.5-metre sidewalk on the north side of Tranquille Road, two 3.7-metre-wide lanes for vehicles and a 3-metre wide multi-use pathway on the south side.

The city says the project also includes drainage catch basins, storm drainage infiltration access points, trees, bus pullouts, water system upgrades, lighting and other related improvements.

“When the corridor reopens, the speed limit from Crestline Street and Southill Street will change from 60 km/h to 50 km/h,” Kachel said. “The updated speed limit aligns better with the new road form and streetscape of Tranquille Road while still accommodating daily vehicle volumes efficiently.”

Cross-section of the Tranquille Project. (Image Credit: City of Kamloops)

Phase 1 of the Tranquille sewer replacement project west of Crestline toward Kamloops Airport was completed in 2017, while Phase 2 between Southill Street and 12th Street was completed in 2021.

Kachel told CFJC Today that the city expects to have a contractor in place in the near future as the Request for Proposal (RFP) deadline was this past Friday, Jan. 17.

“We should be going through our submissions this week and starting the process of awarding the following week, so it should be pretty quick to get the contractor involved,” Kachel said. “The contractors then need to get themselves immersed in the details and start to put together their plan. That is why we’re saying early summer.”

“We believe its about a two-year project but how far they go and how it’s phased will be sorted out with the contractor. But it’s not something that we can get done in a year like Lansdowne Street. It’s quite a bit longer and quite a bit more complicated, as well.”

The overall project is expected to cost around $28 million, though Kachel said the city got about $13 million in grant funding in 2023.

The city will be holding an information session at McArthur Island Thursday evening (Jan. 23) where people will be able to find out more details about the project. It will be held between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Centre Lounge.

“At this point, it’s an early engagement with folks so that we can understand what their concerns are and it gives us a chance to address them before construction starts,” Kachel said. “More information will go up on ‘Let’s Talk’ once we understand what our traffic control plans will look like.”

You can find more details about the project here.