Coquitlam completed millions of dollars in transportation and utility projects last year.
But, for 2022, the city’s engineering department is delivering its largest capital program ever, focusing on all neighbourhoods in the growing municipality — from Burke Mountain to Burquitlam.
On Monday (April 4), council-in-committee got an overview of the 2021 public works projects; much of it was coordinated with new development, said Mark Zaborniak, manager of design and construction.
Among the department’s successes were as follows:
- Harbour Chines
- The neighbourhood saw a record amount of work for one area: 1.8 km of sidewalks installed, as well as 1.6 km of water mains upgraded and 6 km of local roads repaved.
"The good news for those residents is that now they have new infrastructure," Zaborniak said at the meeting. "We won’t need to go back for quite a while."
- Road safety
- Crews completed updates on Pinetree Way, at the northern entrance to Douglas College and Pinetree Community Centre, as well as on Lincoln Avenue between Pinetree Way and Westwood Street.
- Frontage works
- Engineers changed the streetscapes (e.g., curb and gutter, sidewalks, landscaped boulevards, street lighting) on Walls Avenue (between Lebleu and Marmont streets); Stewart Avenue (between Lebleu and Marmont streets); and Delestre Avenue (between Lebleu and Nelson streets).
- Drainage works
- Coordinating with servicing for a new Wesbild development on Burke Mountain, the city installed the Harper Drive Base Flow Facility near Mitchell Drive, which holds about a million litres of storm water that will feed the Fox Creek headwaters.
- Cedar Drive/Partington Creek
- A multi-year, multi-phrased project, work to update the road — located north of Deboville Slough, at the base of Burke Mountain — began last year and also includes area environmental improvements.
Still, 2022 promises to be busier than in past years, Zaborniak told the committee, noting at any given time the department is juggling between 60 and 70 projects with up to $7 million earmarked for road paving.
WHAT’S UP AHEAD
About 25 km of arterial, collector and local roads — as well as lanes — will get a fresh slap of asphalt this year.
Among the $117 million worth of public works projects highlighted for 2022 include:
- Gatensbury Street
- From Regan Street to the Port Moody border, Gatensbury is due to undergo a series of frontage works that include a new multi-use path on the western side — paid for, in part, by TransLink.
- Pipeline Road
- The city is getting ready for Metro Vancouver’s giant pipe dig, due to start this fall, and will coordinate its road paving for 2024, as well as a landscape plan for the eastern side of Town Centre Park.
- Partington Creek
- Engineers will build roads and service the city-owned properties around the yet-unbuilt Burke Mountain Village, the future commercial core for Burke Mountain’s projected 50,000 residents. The Village will be next to the future North East Community Centre, an 80,000 sq. ft. facility that’s due to be up in 2026.
- Cedar Drive
- The city will continue to pre-load the new road, wrap up private property purchases and start construction of the sanitary pump station, gravity main to Upper Victoria Drive and sanitary force main. That contract is now out for tender.
Zaborniak said the city is keeping an eye out on the rising oil costs, which affect fuel prices for contractors, plus the increased numbers to obtain steel pipes.
And while the city remains within its current budgets, he adds it's not known "when prices will go back."
Zaborniak said tendering early and grouping projects help to offset the spike in bills.
City managers also "want to be fair to contractors and have Coquitlam be a place where contractors want to do business, so we get more bids and that helps with the costs," he said.
