After close to seven months of congestion and complaints, two-way traffic is about to return to the portion of West 10th Avenue adjacent to Vancouver General Hospital.
City staff has targeted June 30 as the completion date for street upgrades that began in late November of last year.
The portion of 10th Avenue between Oak and Willow streets has been confined to one-way traffic since that time while a series of upgrades were done to the roadway, sidewalks, lighting and bike paths.
The south side of the road was completed earlier in the spring, while the north side work wraps up at the end of this month.
Between now and then, one-way eastbound traffic flow is still in effect.
“When people use the end product, I think everyone will understand when we said in the beginning what the objectives were around improving safety and comfort for everyone with a focus on patients,” said Devan Fitch, the city’s manager of project delivery.
When shovels hit the ground last year, the work included widening the roadway to allow better separation between vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic and increasing the amount of pick-up and drop-off areas.
Shorter crosswalks, more wayfinding materials and increased parking for HandyDART services were also included in the city’s plans.
The Courier received numerous complaints, both online and anecdotally, since the work began. Available parking, congestion and difficulties finding drop-off points close to health facilities were the most common issues brought up.
“With a constrained corridor and a need to get construction done, there’s only so much that we can do,” Fitch conceded. “We’ve strategically implemented and we’re listening to the feedback we get. Where we can make changes, we do.”
The work on both sides of the street cost $4.5 million and that price tag was split between the city and TransLink.
Whether the work continues east to Cambie Street will be determined by council later this year. Should those improvements be given the green light, the work will get underway next year.
A website specific to the construction progress is online at vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/health-precinct.aspx.
@JohnKurucz
