Each inch of an accelerated sidewalk expansion program in West Kelowna costs $ 21.
About 4.5 kilometers of new sidewalks will be built across the city from next year through 2030, city officials say, at an estimated cost of $ 9.2 million.
The two projects for next year are a 665 meter stretch on McIver Road in Glenrosa and a 370 meter stretch on Westlake Road.
When West Kelowna was incorporated in 2008, many areas were lacking sidewalks due to the country road standards when the parish was ruled by the Central Okanagan Regional District.
Since incorporation, about four kilometers of sidewalks have been built in West Kelowna. The program is funded through developer-paid fees, federal government-repaid gas taxes, and local taxes.
In 2016, the budget for new sidewalks increased to $ 600,000 per year and doubled to $ 1.2 million in 2018.
“The increased budget made it possible to take escalating construction costs into account, to increase the scope of the project and ultimately to accelerate the program,” said a city report.
In addition to the construction of sidewalks, the city has an ongoing plan to improve the general “street scene” on a number of local roads with improvements such as bike lanes, upgrades to intersections, landscaping and decorative features.
The consideration of which road improvement projects to prioritize is based on factors such as traffic volume, roadway conditions and accident statistics.
Priorities for the coming years are Gellatly Road between Carrington Road and Boucherie Road, Bartley Road between Stevens Road and Highway 97, and Shannon Lake Road from Asquith Road to the city limits with the West Bank First Nation. Funds available are approximately $ 3 million every two years.
The city council will decide at a future meeting whether to adjust these priorities.
