The Village of Clinton has received funding to replace its brick sidewalks along Highway 97.
In a press release published last week, Clinton council announced it had received about $221,243 from the Province of British Columbia as part of a plan to replace two brick sidewalks with cement sidewalks. The funding for the sidewalk replacement is coming from the Active Transportation Grant, which according to the BC government, “provides cost-sharing opportunities for network planning grants and infrastructure grants.”
The current brick sidewalks are located on Highway 97 between MacDonald Avenue and Cariboo Avenue, originally laid in 2004.
Mayor Roland Stanke praised the province for their decision to fund the project.
“We are thrilled by the province’s decision to invest in active transportation in Clinton. The replacement of the old brick sidewalks with new concrete ones addresses a long-standing challenge.”
Construction on the new sidewalks is set to occur in the summer, however, the village of Clinton has yet to select a contractor to carry out the project. Brian Doddridge, the Chief Administrative Officer of Clinton, said they are currently working on finding one.
“We are preparing to work on a request for proposals, which will go out at some point in the next few weeks, and then from there we will have to work with whatever contractor was awarded the project.”
New cement sidewalks are needed because the current sidewalks have been disintegrating, settling and heaving. In their release, the Village of Clinton noted this can “create an uneven surface and present challenges to mobility and snow clearing.” The replacement has also been identified as a way to “improve mobility supports for residents” and has been a priority for the village since 2020.
Doddridge said the district is still deciding what to do with the leftover bricks.
“At this point, we are not too sure what we are going to do yet, we’ve had members of the public express interest in them,” Doddridge said. “We are also trying to see what we are going to do internally to purpose them for other projects.”
