Getting around Niverville this week is going to be a bit more complicated than usual, due to two days of scheduled work at the CP railway crossing on Main Street. The crossing will close at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20 and reopen at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21.
During this time, Main Street traffic will be detoured along Fifth Avenue, Crown Valley Road, and Wallace Road.
The purpose of the closure is to install at-grade pedestrian surface crossings on both the north and south sides of the road, to facilitate increased foot traffic in the area that will come from the opening of the new high school in a couple of weeks. As a result, pedestrians will no longer need to walk along the road’s edge to get across the tracks.
The road crossing is also going to see significant improvements.
“As the town continues to grow, CP will have to face increased demands to ensure the safety of their crossing through the town,” says Eric King, Niverville’s CEO. “So by no means is this the end of improvements, but this is sufficient for the traffic volumes of today. As volumes increase, the town is investing in traffic counts to ensure CP is held accountable and meets all Transport Canada guidelines when it comes to safety mechanisms, such as crossing arms.”
King says that CP is a large organization, so it can take some time to get work like this approved and be able to move forward.
“We were lucky enough to find a partner [at CP] over the winter and got a design and price from him in the spring,” King says. “The town paid for the crossing and has since been waiting on CP’s construction schedule to allow for the work. It has been about a nine-month process to get to where we are going this week.”
King adds that the town also intends to undertake sidewalk improvements in the area this fall.
“We are working at securing a contractor to assist in that,” he says. “Depending on availability, it may not occur until the spring.”
