A proper sidewalk and multi-use path are in the plans for upgrades to Tranquille Road.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS — New sidewalks, a roundabout and even a lookout point are all in the plans for Tranquille Road near the airport and with the help of Kinder Morgan the effort to beautify one of the main gateways into our city could move forward a lot more quickly.

The project, from Desmond Street to the Airport, had an estimated cost of about $24 million last year. The project has been broken down into four smaller phases and the price is a bit more uncertain.

Only the first two phases carry estimated price tags of $4.9 million and $2.4 million respectively. Council hopes Kinder Morgan will take on a good portion of the project to help reduce those costs.

“They’ve asked we give them our vision and then we will see what part, if, or all, they will undertake,” Coun. Nelly Dever says. “They’ve asked us for our blue sky ideas, so we’re shooting for the moon.”

The first phase will include a roundabout at the airport, a lookout point at the hairpin turn, landscaping and moving the hydro wires underground. The second phase will include a sidewalk on the north side of the road from the hairpin turn to Crestline Street and a multi-use path on the south side.

A detailed plan will be submitted to Kinder Morgan by the end of June and Dever says they expect to hear back by the fall.

“Ideally we’d like the nuts and bolts to get done (by Kinder Morgan) and we can build on that,” Dever says. “We need to find out what the scale is and we need to build on that scale.”

Even if Kinder Morgan does not approve any of the upgrades she says the costs are already cheaper than the original $24 million estimate because the plans no longer include a multi-use path all the way to the airport.

Phases three and four will impact a lot of residential properties and the city may have to look at possible expropriation of land. This could change the scope and cost of the overall project, though Dever says it is too early to know for sure.

If the Kinder Morgan expansion goes through the approval process as planned, construction would begin in 2017.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014