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Rounded curbs for Shuswap Ave.

District of Sicamous Council voted unanimously in favour of rollover curbs rather than right-angled ones for Shuswap Avenue.

It will be rollover curbs rather than right-angled ones for Shuswap Avenue. And sooner rather than later, according to Mayor Terry Rysz.

On March 14, District of Sicamous Council voted unanimously to amend drawings for Shuswap Avenue redevelopment to permit the use of rollover curb and gutter in lieu of the specified high-back curb and gutter, and to delete the provision of a landscape boulevard in this instance.

In a background report to the board, planning officer Mike Marrs pointed out there were errors  in regard to the road designation and that Shuswap Avenue was not an urban collector road but rather designated a local road.

“Further, the actual size of the Shuswap Avenue right-of-way is approximately 20 metres and narrows to 19.7 metres in places approaching Main Street,” wrote Marrs in his report. “This existing right-of-way is significantly narrower than the 25 metres width normally required by an urban collector road which provides for landscaped boulevards which separate pedestrian sidewalks from traffic lanes.”

Without the necessary width, the cross slope of driveway access would have to be a steeper almost five-per cent slope instead of the regular two per cent.

“This four to five per cent cross slope is not desirable for those having to use walkers, carts or wheelchairs,” pointed out Marrs. “The use of a roll-over curb will allow for the cross slope to be maintained at a continuous two per cent and allow for the deletion of driveway access drops, thus providing a continuous unfluctuating pedestrian walking surface.”

Rysz says councillors agreed.

Evan Parliament, District of Sicamous chief administrative officer, says there are more than curbs in the Shuswap Avenue redevelopment project.

“As part of the project is the burying of hydro lines on the east side of Shuswap from Main Street to Temple,” Parliament said last Thursday.

Meanwhile Rysz expressed his pleasure with plans to get the project underway.

“We’ve been knocking that around for a few years now and I am really pleased we made a decision,” he said. “There were some restrictions that kind of created controversy and debate, but at the end of the day, between amending our bylaw and sorting it all out, we felt it would be the perfect structure.”

The project will now go to tender with the hope construction will begin within the next few months and be completed by fall.