The City will be upgrading Gatensbury Street from the Port Moody border to Como Lake Park (Regan Ave.) as a part of the City’s Frontage Works Program. This project will improve overall road safety, enhance pedestrian and cycling safety, as well as accessibility, and improve access to Como Lake Park.
Improvements include:
- Curb and gutter with curb extensions
- Crosswalk improvements
- A 3.0-metre asphalt multi-use pathway along the west side of the road
- A concrete sidewalk on the east side of the road
- On-street parking pockets
- Street and pathway lighting
- New landscaped boulevard areas with sod and street trees
Safety Improvements
Gatensbury Street is an important collector road and a well-used walking and cycling route for both the City of Coquitlam and City of Port Moody. Pedestrian and cyclist safety will be improved with:
- A new sidewalk
- A multi-use pathway
- Treed boulevards to separate pedestrians from vehicles
- Curb extensions to reduce crossing distances
- New crosswalk signs and markings
The street will have new curbs and curb extensions that will narrow the street from the existing conditions.
With street improvements, we will be also making speed regulatory changes. In Coquitlam, the speed limit on most of our streets is 50 km/h, which is consistent with other municipalities in the region. A consistent approach is very important when setting speed limits to improve driver compliance of the speed limits and enforcement of the traffic regulations. Presently, all local streets connecting to Gatensbury Street have a 50 km/h speed limit. Gatensbury Street improvements will bring this street to our collector municipal standard, similar to other collector streets in the City that have 50 km/h speed limits. As such, we will be changing the speed limit for the section of Gatensbury Street from Como Lake Avenue to Bartlett Avenue from the current 30km/h to a 50 km/h speed limit.
The sections of Gatensbury Street that have sharp horizontal curves will continue to have a 30km/h speed limit. This change will assist in focusing driver’s attention on critical sections where, due to road conditions, lower speeds are necessary and the combination of infrastructure improvements with speed limit changes are expected to improve overall road safety.
RCMP will have an increased education and enforcement campaign when the new speed limit is set and the City will conduct speed surveys before the construction, and for three to six months after completion of the road construction when travel patterns have had a chance to adjust to determine if any additional actions are required.
Funding
This project has funding from a number of sources:
- City’s annual Frontage Works Program,
- City’s annual Bicycle Route Upgrade Program, and
- TransLink Grant (for bicycle route upgrades).
Timeline
Improvements on Gatensbury Street began the week of June 13. The work takes place from the Port Moody border to Como Lake Park (Regan Avenue), and will be ongoing until the end of the year. Please use alternate routes to avoid delays. For the latest info on construction imapcts for this project and others, please visit coquitlam.ca/traffichotspots.
