Underground work on 100th street corridor project nearly complete

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Underground utilities work on the 100th Street Corridor project’s third phase is nearly finished.

The project itself is running on schedule, according to the City of Fort St. John.

Along with the utilities infrastructure (which includes systems for both rainwater and waste), the road subbase is nearly finished and preparations for curbs have begun. 

The final portion of underground work required in the project is underneath the more recently shuttered 101st avenue and 100th street. 

All told, the underground utilities work accounts for 40 to 50 per cent of the work in the entire phase, according to Ryan Harvey, communications coordinator for the city.

Though the invisible underground infrastructure work is a massive part of the project, there are still several elements that need to go into the project before the phase is finished. These include gravel, running electricity and irrigation lines, and pouring concrete for sidewalks. The street also must be paved and painted.

 “There’s still a fair bit of work,” Harvey said. 

Furnishing the site must also happen between now and the project’s projected end date in early fall. That will include benches, street trees, traffic lights and streetlights. 

Silva cells for the street trees, which are products that support the sidewalk while decorative trees grow root systems underneath it, were recently installed. The trees will be Prairie Ash and Dropmore Linden to match the rest of the project.

The green space across from the North Peace Cultural Centre has become a lay-down yard for the construction going on in the area. Portions of the foundation for the building that used to inhabit the lot were left to support the sidewalk along 101 Avenue and 100th Street. These remnants were removed to upgrade the sidewalk.

Once the project is over, the property will be restored back to green space.

The third stage of the 100th Street Corridor began this spring and is slated to end in the fall. It consists of both below-ground upgrades and above-ground aesthetic and function changes, including the introduction of a two-way left turn lane. The fourth and final stage of the project is slated for next summer.

This phase of the project closed two blocks of 100th street—from 99th ave to 102 ave—for the summer. The budget for the phase is $9.6 million.