Construction of a new water main could create a bit of noise and transportation impacts near the Braid Street SkyTrain station in the coming weeks – but it’s nothing to compare with the impacts it would have if it was done during the day.
A report to city council stated that construction will take place on the northwest corner of the intersection at Braid Street and Brunette Avenue sometime between Monday, March 14 and Thursday, April 14.
“Currently, Braid station is being supplied water by the same water main that supplies the adjacent Amazon warehouse,” said the report. “The new water main is required to provide adequate fire and domestic water to Braid station by removing the station’s existing water service from the Amazon line and installing a new water main to Braid station directly from the city’s water main.”
The staff report said this will provide “a resilient water supply system” that will meet code requirements. When complete, the Amazon warehouse and the Braid SkyTrain station will each have independent water supply connected to the city’s water system.
At its March 7 meeting, council approved an exemption to the city’s construction noise bylaw for 81 Braid St., which allows work to be done from March 12 to April 14 between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. Monday to Thursday and between 8 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. on Saturdays.
According to the staff report, the work will be done in six work stages, with stages 2 to 6 taking place soley on private lands.
Stage 1, however, will require the closure of two westbound vehicle lanes of Braid Street and one southbound vehicle lane of Brunette Avenue.
“This closure will restrict larger commercial vehicles from making the southbound-to-westbound movement, with a detour route to East Columbia Street via Brunette Avenue to the south,” said the report.
The report said minimal impacts are expected to pedestrian access to and from the Braid SkyTrain station during construction. A closure of the north sidewalk along Braid Street and a subsequent detour to the south sidewalk are required, but transportation control personnel will be stationed at the intersection to help pedestrians.
“There will be no designated cycling routes,” said the report. “Sidewalks and the roadway will be returned to normal operation at the end of each night closure.”
The staff report noted that several projects are already taking place in Sapperton, including construction on the development at 100 Braid St., the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment project, a development at 408 East Columbia St. and the Sapperton sewer separation and water works program.
As a result, staff said the water main project would have “challenging impacts” related to emergency vehicle access, transit reliability and commercial truck travel – and could create safety issues for workers and traffic control personnel – if this work was done during daytime peak-vehicle periods.
“Given these compounding factors, city staff anticipates significant issues would occur with water main work during the day,” said the report. “With relatively few impacts to vulnerable road users, staff considers the requested bylaw exemption to enable overnight work to be preferable and reasonable under these circumstances.”
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