Adam Kveton Photo Construction has Corfield Street South just north of Jensen Avenue East down to one lane on Tuesday, Dec. 5.

Road construction near the entrance to the Corfield Plaza shopping centre will be halted next week and not resume until January, the City of Parksville announced this week in a written release.

Locar Industries, project contractor for the Corfield Street upgrade and Jensen Avenue Greenway project, has begun the Corfield upgrades with work on the sanitary sewer line and manholes, disrupting the south access to Corfield Plaza while sanitary sewer bypass pumping is completed.

Upon completion of the sewer bypass, scheduled to end this week, crews will not return to Corfield Street north of Jensen Ave. until January, which will allow full access from the two Corfield Street entrances into the plaza parking lot during the remainder of December, the city release stated.

The city’s priority is to complete this full project by June 30 to satisfy the Corfield Plaza businesses, which have indicated the summer months are their busiest. To provide the best opportunity to meet the June 30 completion schedule, the contractor made the decision to complete the sanitary sewer bypass the first week in December and with minimal disruption.

During construction, there has been access to Corfield Plaza from both Corfield Street and Bagshaw Street and all businesses are open as usual, said Deb Tardiff, city communications director.

During construction, traffic will be controlled in all directions for both cars and pedestrians. In order for this work to be completed, please expect interruptions to traffic flow and intermittent alternating single-lane usage. Pedestrians should use traffic controllers placed to help foot traffic across Corfield Street.

“We ask for the patience of the public, as the contractor will attempt to complete this work as efficiently and safely as possible,” Tardiff said in the release. “For the public’s safety, the instructions provided by the traffic control people must be obeyed.”

This project has been two years in the making. Originally planned to begin in spring of 2017, the start of construction was postponed to avoid disrupting Corfield Plaza businesses in July and August, which merchants said were their busiest sales months.

The project will result in improvements to the road, water, sewer and drainage on Corfield as well as a new multi-use greenway along the Jensen Avenue alignment from Corfield to McVickers Street. The project will include new paving and is intended to improve pedestrian and cycling safety and formalize traffic lanes and parking on Corfield Street from Highway 19A to Stanford Avenue.

— NEWS staff and City of Parksville release