Uptown residents and merchants are urging council to put more time and money into the Third Avenue business district, now that the Johnston Road corridor is complete.
Chris Washington who owns Flandangles, says they want to recreate a feeling of community and make Uptown a social gathering place.
She says their proposal to expand the boulevard size reducing Third Avenue from 4 lanes to two, and installing a traffic circle at Third and Angus, would help remove the industrial truck traffic.
Pushing through a new industrial truck route was shelved in February after a lack of progress, but Mayor Mike Ruttan says it’s always been a question of costs.
Ruttan said the city paid $50,000 for a truck traffic study on 3rd Avenue last year, and they have approved another $50,000 to pay for a consultant to turn the 1500 pages of truck count data into a full report.
He said while the city was able to purchase a right of way through the Catalyst property, Western Forest Products wasn’t quite as willing, but he will ask staff to re-start those discussions
Ruttan said it makes sense to connect Harbour Road to Ship Creek Road through the APD property and take the truck traffic off of Third.
Washington says area residents and business owners are coming together and looking to make a positive change in the area.
City Council responded by reinstating the Industrial Truck Route as a high-priority item.