The City of Terrace’s ambitious plans to improve the road going up Lanfear Hill, change traffic patterns at the top by constructing a roundabout and making things better for pedestrians and cyclists at the top of the hill have stalled for now because the city’s applications for two senior government grants to help finance the desired work have been turned down.
A federal grant would have covered all of the desired work and should that have been turned down, the city had hedged its bets by applying for a provincial grant to help pay for just the roundabout.
“The city’s capital plan currently does not have money allocated to these projects,” said city communications official Tyler Clarke in explaining that without the grants, work won’t be going ahead.
But should the day come when the city can acquire the money it needs, detailed construction plans will be in place, he added.
A preliminary design for Lanfear Hill at $150,000 is underway as is a roundabout design costing $75,000 while a detailed Lanfear Hill design at $250,000 is in this year’s budget but has yet to be started.
“Having the designs complete will give us ‘shelf ready’ projects which could be used for future grant applications,” said Clarke.
Letters sent to the city giving it the bad news about the grant applications noted there were more requests for money then could be satisfied.
As envisioned, the Lanfear Hill work would see the current and inadequate sidewalk moved to the uphill side of the road where a raised and much wider pathway for pedestrians, cyclists and others would have been cut into the hill.
The current sidewalk would then have been beefed up so that the vehicle portion of the road would be wider.
Staffers last year projected an expenditure of $6.5 million to cover everything from a crosswalk at the bottom of Lanfear Hill to the safer and wider pathway for pedestrians and cyclists, to safer vehicle lanes up the hill to a roundabout at the top of the hill.
A safer and wider pathway would cost the most, an estimated $4.09 million, followed by the roundabout at $1.86 million and improvements to the Lanfear Hill roadway shoulder at $550,000, indicates a proposed city budget document now out for public review.
Improvements to the narrow width of the Lanfear Hill traffic lanes and its inadequate sidewalk have been on the city’s to do list for years, but always driven by the need for outside assistance because the city’s tax base could not afford the cost.
At one time the city unsuccessfully applied for a federal $10 million grant for a wholesale reconstruction of the hill.
The prospect of a roundabout emerged several years ago as a solution to do away with residential streets that converge at the top of the hill, presenting safety challenges at key times of the day as traffic either turns off at the top of the hill or motorists seek to drive down the hill.
Figures from the B.C. Assessment Authority show that the vast majority of new home construction in recent years has taken place on the Bench.
The most ambitious part of the forecast improvements would move the sidewalk from the edge of the roadway to the other side of the road.
The roundabout at the top of Lanfear Hill would eliminate the McConnell intersection to the west and the Cooper Dr. intersection to the east.
The city has already purchased property on the corner of McConnell and Thomas at the top of the hill in anticipation of more roadway improvements.