Cranbrook City Council considering 3 options for Victoria Avenue, 4th Street North reconstruction

Image submitted by City of Cranbrook: Map displays area of focus for a major reconstruction and infrastructure repair project which is being proposed.

Cranbrook City Council is looking into options for repairs to a couple of busy roads in the community, and for underground infrastructure.

The City is considering three options for a major reconstruction project along Victoria Avenue between Highway 3 and 21st Avenue South as well as 4th Street North between Victoria Avenue and Kootenay Street North.

Option 1 is a 5 phase plan which would include 5 years of work and would account for all capital roads and infrastructure funding, no other road or capital projects would be undertaken for the duration if the City chooses this option.

Option 2 would entail the City borrowing 100 percent of the project’s cost covering three phases over three years, this would allow other projects to be carried out while work on Victoria Avenue and 4th Street north is ongoing.

Mayor Lee Pratt says the recommended strategy is the third option, this entails partial borrowing for the $18-million price tag with work to be carried out over three years with construction targeted for 2024.

“If it is going to be option three, then we have to look at putting the money into the budget and where the funding is going to come from and if we’re going to have to borrow some money to do it,” says Pratt.

The City says both streets have been identified as high priority infrastructure projects dating back to its Asset Management Plan in 2017, he adds sewer infrastructure underneath both roads is nearing or at capacity.

“The sewer is basically at capacity right now,” says Pratt. “We have a big rainstorm, sometimes it blows the manhole covers right off. We know that it has to be replaced. It will tie into the work we did this year from the lagoons out to Victoria.”

View more information from the City of Cranbrook here.

– Lee Pratt – Mayor of Cranbrook