BC Hydro repairs to prompt 7-week closure of First Avenue near Kamloops City Hall

“We want to apologize to our customers for the inconvenience that they will see downtown as a result of this work because yes, that closure will affect traffic,” Susan Edgell, a BC Hydro Community Relations Advisor, told CFJC Today.

“We are working with traffic management to ensure that people get to where they’re going as quickly as they can. We’re just asking people to pack their patience and we want to thank them for their support as we continue to keep the lights on in Kamloops.”

(Image Credit: City of Kamloops)

Edgell says pedestrian access will be maintained through the area while work is underway. Parking on the east side of City Hall will be inaccessible, though public parking on the north side of City Hall will remain open.

This work is the latest in a series of infrastructure projects being done by BC Hydro across downtown Kamloops.

“This is ongoing regular maintenance that BC Hydro likes to perform in order to ensure that we don’t have an unexpected outage that would really inconvenience our customers,” Edgell said. “This is preventative work that we are doing and we’re hoping it goes smoothly, which we’re sure it will.”

As part of this project, there will also be a one day power outage at City Hall on May 20. Edgell says there won’t be any access allowed into the building on that Wednesday.

“We’ve alerted City Hall about that,” Edgell said. “This is an outage that we’re worked with the city on to find the least disruptive date and that is what we landed on. We want to make sure our customers are aware of that.”

On June 2, there will be a broader closure of First Avenue between Seymour Street and Lansdowne Street, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The northbound lane closure between Lansdowne Street and Victoria Street will not impact westbound traffic on Lansdowne.

A small portion of the north lane off Seymour Street between First and Second Avenue will also be closed on that day.

“Residents are asked to plan ahead and allow extra time for travel during the closure,” the city said, in a statement.

– With files from Aaron Schulze/CFJC Today

by Victor Kaisar

BC Hydro repairs to prompt 7-week closure of First Avenue near Kamloops City Hall

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