A pedestrian overpass connecting the north and south sides of the Trans Canada Highway will provide the UFV community with access to the Marshall / McCallum block of Abbotsford.
The overpass will reach, on the south side, from Salton Road, right around the large digital advertising board along the freeway towards Salton Road on the other side of the freeway. Currently, the two portions of Salton Road on both sides of the freeway are unconnected but will be joined once the overpass is built.
The project is estimated to cost $3.9 million. The City has also received a $1 million grant from the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, through the BikeBC program.
“That will connect our community with the community on the North side of the Freeway,” said Craig Toews, executive director of campus planning and resource management at UFV. “We know there are a lot of students who live in housing or apartments on the North side of the freeway.”
The overpass is intended to give pedestrians a safer route than they would have crossing the McCallum vehicle overpass — where pedestrians may have to cross through two roundabouts multiple times, while vehicles move and merge at high speeds.
The bridge itself will be a four-metre-wide overpass. On the north side of the freeway it will connect to a 2.6-metre-wide bike path along Salton Road to Marshall Road. It will be accompanied by a 1.5-metre sidewalk and parking on the west side of Salton.
The south side of the freeway will see a three-metre-wide separate bike path along Salton to King Road and the U-Walk. It will also be accompanied by a 1.5-metre sidewalk and parking along Salton.
Connecting both Salton roads also brings the City’s U-District vision closer to fruition. In 2011 the City and UFV began collaborating to create a vision for the community surrounding UFV. In 2015 the vision was turned into a detailed plan that will guide development for the university and surrounding area.
The vision includes a university village to bring university life and community together, natural green zones, and the campus U-Walk — a pedestrian and cyclist walkway. This trans-campus walkway will reach from the forested land on the south side of campus and Student Union Building, through campus, across King Road, and over the Trans Canada highway via the planned pedestrian overpass.
Although the vision for U-District includes many potential changes to the university campus, it is only a general plan set by the City. It will be up to developers to work with the City and their vision in order to build what will become U-District.
“The two benefits that are immediate are it would connect those students as well as it moves the U-District vision forwards,” said Toews. “The overpass was a really significant piece to the U-Walk and to connecting our campus.”
The overpass will also help to meet one of the targets of the Official Community Plan, that 25 per cent of trips around Abbotsford are made without a vehicle.
The City of Abbotsford’s website says: “This bridge will help improve mobility and safety for pedestrians and cyclists and will also align with the City’s strategic goal to enhance multi-modal transportation systems in the community to support walking, cycling and transit.”
The project will start this spring and is expected to be completed within a year.
