Good news for drivers travelling in and out of Vancouver — East 1st Avenue has partially been reopened between Nanaimo Street and Rupert Street after that area was reduced to single lanes since late May.
Trevor Wales with FortisBC said construction finished Sunday morning after closures were in effect as it worked natural gas-line upgrades.
Wales said on Friday August 31, all of the gas line work will be done between Nanaimo Street and Clark Drive, and those closed lanes will be reopened as well.
“We’ve certainly heard from the community, there have been people who have been reaching out with some concerns, we’ve been working quite closely with them to address those whether that’s people who have been short-cutting through the neighbourhoods, and the way that we’ve worked with the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Police Department to try and limit that and minimize the traffic impacts to those local side streets.”
READ MORE: Some relief in sight for Vancouver commuters as East 1st Ave set to reopen
FortisBC has been working to help businesses on a case-by-case basis.
“Some of the ways in which way we’ve been doing that have been to ensure that they have access maintained throughout construction, that parking and deliveries are maintained, we’ve also been working to do additional promotions and advertising for those businesses as well as purchase gift cards and distribute those in the local neighbourhoods so that residents can support those businesses accordingly.”
Ongoing work remains on East 1st Avenue between Rupert Street and Boundary Road until October, as well as in Burnaby on Lougheed Highway between Madison and Delta.