The next steps in the storm sewer upgrade on Kenmount Road will hit Phase 2 late in June.
The City of St. John’s made the announcement on Monday saying the area from Polina Road to Peet Street will be targeted in the 2019 construction season.
The city is working with business owners in this area to ensure minimal impact to their operation during the five-month duration of the project.
“The first step, really, is to talk to the business owners, find out what the challenges are, what times, etc., are the most challenging for them, and what impacts are greatest that they find, and then working within those to try to minimize it as much as possible,” said Mayor Danny Breen.
This is the second phase of the project, the first completed last year with the new intersection installed at Polina and Kenmount Roads.
Motorists and pedestrians are cautioned that there will be disruptions in the area during construction, but traffic flow will be carried out while work is ongoing.
“When you’re doing work of that type, if you’re going to have traffic moving in both directions, we’re usually down to one lane. Kenmount Road is already a heavily taxed road, and so you’re going to find that’s going to be a challenge,” said Breen.
He said the city will entertain the idea of allowing the contractor to work overnight at times, if required.
Pedestrians will be able to pass on one side of the road during construction.
Breen said it’s a major storm sewer along Kenmount Road, but it will be increased in size with this work because of an increase in development on the busy street in recent years, but also because of weather changes.
“As we all know there’s been an increase in frequency of heavy rainfalls in the province, and in other places – not just here – so, every time that we go to do infrastructure renewal projects, we make sure that we’re putting in place the proper size of the infrastructure to accommodate those events.”
Breen said climate change and its impacts are a consideration in all projects the city completes.
“Our strategy really is how do we adapt to these changes and how do we build up our resilience as a city to accommodate these changes.”
To that end, the city has hired a sustainability officer and one of his key assignments will be to develop a sustainability plan for the city.
An advisory will be issued by the City of St. John’s prior to the start of Kenmount Road construction.
Visit engagestjohns.ca to learn more about the project and stay up to date as work progresses.
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