Commuters, pedestrians and cyclists travelling on Barnet Highway near Coquitlam Centre mall will soon see changes to the lanes.
On Monday, managers overseeing the $1.4-billion Evergreen Line project told Coquitlam city council that neon orange tubes will be installed shortly between the lanes in the stretch of Barnet between Pinetree Way and Johnson Street.
Senior project advisor Jon Buckle said the road barriers will help slow traffic in that busy section, which where construction is taking place for the rapid-transit line, due to open in the summer of 2016.
The traffic-calming measures and new road lines - as well as flagging personnel in hard hats and high-visibility vests - will help drivers as they approach the new crosswalk from the mall to the transit hub.
The crosswalk is temporary while an Evergreen column is put into place at Barnet and Pinetree and will be removed when the work is over.
Amanda Farrell, Evergreen's executive project director, said her main concern is that people are safe when they are crossing Barnet.
Coun. Brent Asmundson, a bus driver, told Evergreen managers the crosswalk is especially dangerous at night. "It really needs flaggers there all the time," he said.
In her update to council, Farrell also spoke of the project milestones: Coquitlam's four Evergreen stations (Burquitlam, Coquitlam Central, Lincoln and Lafarge Lake-Douglas) are between 5% and 20% complete and pile driving along Pinetree Way is expected to wrap up next month.
While the stations will look the same inside, each will have different exteriors. Farrell said Lafarge Lake-Douglas (next to the Evergreen Cultural Centre) and Coquitlam Central will have room for retail space while Lincoln will be integrated into the Coquitlam Centre mall property and Burquitlam will include a public transit exchange.
As well, all will be built using CPTED - crime prevention through environmental design - standards such as glass elevators, clear sight lines for passengers and area landscaping, she said.
As for Coquitlam council's request to have washrooms in each of the Evergreen stations, Farrell said TransLink will make that decision.
According to a city report, Coquitlam is looking at self-cleaning toilets to be located outside the Lincoln and Lafarge Lake stations - but each would come with a $300,000 price tag plus another $30,000 annual bill for maintenance.
Coquitlam is budgeting $14 million to upgrade Pinetree Way this and next year to accommodate the Evergreen Line.
