Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / Chilliwack City Council awarded a nearly $1.3 million contract at its meeting Tuesday (July 2) to Breakwater Contracting Ltd. to build a traffic signal on Luckakuck Way and implement safety improvements to this heavily traveled corridor in front of Real Canadian Superstore in Chilliwack. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

New traffic light near Superstore

New traffic light, safety improvements coming to Luckakuck Way in front of Chilliwack Superstore

Jul 4, 2024 | 7:15 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack City Council awarded a nearly $1.3 million contract at its meeting Tuesday (July 2) to Breakwater Contracting Ltd. to build a traffic signal on Luckakuck Way and implement safety improvements in front of Real Canadian Superstore in Chilliwack.

According to a City of Chilliwack staff report authored by Doug Mossey, manager of transportation and drainage, two tenders were received for the “Luckakuck Way Traffic Signal and Safety Improvements” project. The low bid of $1,298,050.95 from Breakwater was accepted and deemed compliant.

The project consists of civil and electrical public works improvements needed to construct a new signalized intersection, concrete medians, driveway access changes off and on-site, multi-use pathways and street lighting works, according to the city staff report.

The project limits are encompassed within Luckakuck Way from the curve east of Vedder Road to the existing multi-use path at the railway overpass. The work includes the construction of a multi-use pathway on the east side of Luckakuck Way, traffic signals at the northernmost Superstore access, relocation of one Superstore access, reconfiguration of other accesses, conversion of the existing two-way left turn lane to dedicated left turn lanes with raised medians, and the installation of additional streetlights at the traffic signal and along the multi-use pathway.

Councillor Chris Kloot expressed concern at Tuesday’s council meeting around the close proximity of the traffic signal light at Luckakuck and Vedder and believed traffic lights in Chilliwack might not be synchronized properly, as in, communicating with each other.

B.C. woman faces terrorism charges for travelling to Syria to join ISIS in 2015

8h ago

Witnesses sought

Motorcyclist critically injured in Abbotsford collision

13h ago

Heat Concerns

Fraser Valley residents prepare for the hottest weekend of the year

18h ago

Mossey acknowledged that Chilliwack’s current signalized intersections do not “speak to each other,” but there are plans to have synchronized, timed intersections as the city builds that network.

Kloot asked Mossey if there could be flashing amber lights for Chilliwack motorists heading east/northeast on Luckakuck from Vedder Road, the kind you see at Vedder and Spruce/Britton in Sardis.

“We don’t foresee them at this time,” Mossey said, adding that the flashing amber lights motorists see around Chilliwack were in response to a high number of accidents at certain intersections, and were paid for through an ICBC program.

City of Chilliwack Chief Administrative Officer David Blain said this Luckakuck Way project near Superstore has been on the city books for multiple years dating back to at least 2019.

“This project has been on the books probably at least five years; we’ve been presenting this to council It’s the result of data and a multitude of complaints about people having difficulty turning left in and out, and worried about getting themselves killed,” he said. “So this project has been coming for a long time. This took five years or more when it was identified by council at the time.”