Nick Tweel is excited about plans to overhaul one of Charlottetown’s busiest corridors, University Avenue.
Tweel was born and raised on the streets and his family has been doing business on the streets for over 70 years.
“They have factored in better lighting, more visible crosswalks and nice sidewalks that run the length of the street. “Let’s go downtown Charlottetown,” said Tweel.
The city held an open house on Tuesday night University Avenue Master Plan announced — a plan that he describes as a “bold reimagining.” A section of the road includes Belvedere Avenue near the Superstore to Euston Street next to Invesco.
Between 14,000 and 25,000 vehicles use the road daily, depending on the season.
“Let’s review”
Scott Adams, public works manager for the city of Charlottetown, said the goals of the plan were to improve safety and traffic flow, add active transit lanes, and improve the appearance of streets by adding green space and trees. He said to do better.
“One of our big goals is to have a multi-use road on the west side of University Avenue. The goal is to attract cyclists and provide a comfortable cycling path outside the driving lane,” said Adams. rice field.
“This area hasn’t had a lot of work done in years. We want to give it a fresh look while improving all the infrastructure on the road.”
of About 200 pages document costs — Over $14.5 million.
But Adams said a lot has changed since the document was produced in March 2021 and he expects the actual cost to be much higher due to inflation. He said the project will be phased in, with plans to start with changes from the university and Belvedere to Nassau Street.
“Dirty building”
“Ultimately, it could be $16 million to over $17 million,” he said. “We really don’t know what we’re going to do until we get to that detailed design.”
Pond Street resident Mark Nicoll says he likes the plan, including the right turn lane and active transit lane. He said the street needs a facelift.
“We live in the Pond, and from Pond to Euston, the sidewalks are rough, the buildings are dingy, and it’s not a pleasant walk or cycle,” he said.
The biggest changes are at the University and Belvedere, where reports show more collisions than at any other intersection in the city.
According to Adams, plans for that section include adding a right-turn lane, a median down part of the road to RCMP headquarters to prevent left turns, and a “fully operational signalized intersection” in front of Indigo. ‘ was included. The RCMP headquarters is across the street.
“It took a while”
New lighting sets will also be installed on University Avenue and Pond Street.
The city hopes to be able to bury some of the power poles and power lines as part of this project.
Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown said the plan has been discussed since he was first elected to the city council more than 20 years ago.
“This is a big project. It’s a huge project,” Brown said.
“There’s a lot of commercial, residential, and a lot of streets that intersect sections of University Avenue from those two points, so it took a while.”
Brown said nothing will happen until residents speak out. He said the city will take into account all inputs before the final plan is implemented.
“It should be the real focus”
“I’m in no hurry,” he said.
The City will continue to accept input by email over the next few weeks.
Tweel said he hopes the city council will approve the project and complete the work as soon as possible.
“Charlottetown is a beautiful place and the first thing people see when they walk into the heart of downtown, so it should be a real focal point.”
