Businesses along Coquitlam's United Boulevard are taking a wait and see approach to the 12-week King Edward Street closure before making any customer service changes.
Starting tomorrow (Saturday), the south portion of King Edward Street, between Lougheed Highway and United, will be shut while construction crews finish the last part of a new four-lane overpass that, once complete, will span over the CP Rail tracks. The bump along Highway 1 will also be levelled.
The work means drivers, cyclists and pedestrians won't be able to get to United from Lougheed or Woolridge Street, the road that circles Ikea.
Howard Blank, spokesperson for Great Canadian Casino, which runs the Boulevard Casino and sees tens of thousands of visitors a week - many of whom come by car - said yesterday his business won't know the implications of the three-month closure until it happens. "Obviously, it's something that we'll be looking at," he said. "We're just going to have to wait and see."
The provincial project is part of the $3-billion Gateway Program that includes twinning of the nearby Port Mann bridge and reconfiguration of the Cape Horn interchange in Coquitlam, "a three- to four-year headache," Blank said of the road work.
Mayor Richard Stewart said the city, which is responsible for King Edward Street closure communications, said he and other municipal staff have met with a few of the 550 retailers and warehouse operators in the Pacific Reach business park to find ways to minimize disruption (for example, customers won't be able to make some left-hand turns because project managers want traffic along United to flow smoothly; as a result, customers may have to turn around a block).
Last week, the city also sent out final newsletters to businesses to remind them of the 12-week closure. "We have planned every element that can be planned," Stewart said.
Still, despite the notifications, road signs and advertising, the city is also prepared to take an influx of calls from commuters who didn't know about the construction. "That's the frustrating part," Stewart said. "You try to do everything possible and the message isn't being heard. In the end, this will be fixing a 50-year problem to access a road over train tracks."
As for cycling and pedestrian access, Simon Watkins, the Tri-Cities' spokesperson for the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, said he biked last Friday from New Westminster to the Mary Hill bypass, via United, and later noted in an email to The Tri-City News: "It was scary but not really more than I expected. I guess traffic was a bit low because of the summer season.
"There is very little clearance on the side of the road for cyclists near King Edward but after that it was okay," he wrote. "For me, this is not really a big problem because in that situation, I occupy the whole road, but I can see how it would be very intimidating for many people."
Meanwhile, Mark Zaborniak, Coquitlam's manager of design and construction, is reminding commuters "to give themselves more time to get to and from the area, particularly during the first week as everyone adjusts to the changes," he said.
For more information on the King Edward Street overpass project, call 604-927-3500 or email [email protected]. For a detour map, visit www.coquitlam.ca.
