BY NANCY KELLY
Kings County Advertiser/Register
The condition of provincially maintained roads dominated much of the discussion at the Sept. 9 meeting of the Kingston village commission.
Kings West MLA Leo Glavine reported on the pending Bridge Street resurfacing project, due “to be done in short order.”
Calling the main connector between the villages of Kingston and Greenwood the “most travelled on a daily basis” in his constituency, Glavine said the repaving project and the addition of a bicycle lane “would not have happened without the two communities working together.”
Both villages pressed the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) to include the bike lane, recommended in a local transportation study conducted by the province several years ago.
Glavine explained the entire length of Bridge Street, from Central Avenue on the Greenwood side to Main Street in Kingston, with the exception of the two bridges, would see the addition of a 1.5 metre bike lane.
“Adding the bridges would have put the work off for another year,” said Glavine, whi is confident the bridges will be replaced in future.
Changes to Markland Avenue may also soon be on the horizon. The village has consulted with the Kingston Volunteer Fire Department and TIR about a plan to change the road, used by many drivers as a shortcut to circumvent the traffic lights at Bridge and Main Streets, to a one-way, dead-end street.
“We are still gathering some feedback,” said public works commissioner Martha Armstrong, adding she expects a recommendation on the issue soon.
An email from Kingston resident Karl West about the condition of Lincoln Street was also on the agenda. Likening it to “a poorly maintained dirt road,” West wrote the street is “not a good introduction to our village” for drivers accessing the Western Kings Arena and village from the western exit of the 101 highway.
When Commissioner Lorne Reid pointed out there are “at least a half-dozen roads in the village in worse or similar shape,” Glavine stressed the value of creating a five-year plan for infrastructure improvements and sharing it with the village’s municipal and provincial counterparts.
Reid said the village had developed a two-year plan calling for upgrades to Park Street and several other village routes.
“Now, we need to hold the Department of Transportation accountable for what has already been requested.”
