Traffic Moving On River Road

By 250 News

The temporary diking of River Road has raised the roadway more than two-metres

Prince George, B.C. -  Traffic has begun moving freely once again on River Road...

The road has become part of the diking system along the southside of the Nechako River and has been raised more than two-metres in a bid to protect the light industrial area and downtown core should another water surge occur on the river.

The City’s Utilities Division Manager, Marco Fornari, says all ramp construction into businesses along the route is complete and they are able to take fully loaded trucks.  Reflective markers at the edge of the newly-raised road went in Wednesday and yesterday.

Fornari says there is a single lane section between Foley Crescent and Winton Global.  "When it went it, it was to prevent water from coming in, so it was built in some fairly deep water, (and) the compaction there is not good enough to take heavy traffic.  That’s the only section we’re keeping heavy traffic off of."

Some of the ramps that went in later, during the coldsnap, may also need a little extra work once the temperatures warm.  He says, "You don’t get quite as good compaction as you would in warm weather, so we may have to go out later and put some rollers on it (at that time)."

As for feedback, Fornari says the weather conditions this week have left the road a little icy, so it’s been sanded.  He says now that ramp construction is complete, River road is back on the City’s maintenance schedule.

The City’s plan is to keep the road raised until its study on long-term flood solutions is complete. Fornari says, "I don’t think that we want to remove any floodworks like that until we have some other solution to take its place.

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