Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / The City of Chilliwack is moving forward on a promised traffic signal on Luckakuck Way near Real Canadian Superstore and Hofstede's Country Barn. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Luckakuck public works project

Public works project near Chilliwack supermarket moving forward

Dec 5, 2024 | 1:22 PM

CHILLIWACK — The City of Chilliwack is moving forward on a promised traffic signal on Luckakuck Way near a prominent supermarket and popular deli.

As of Thursday morning (Dec. 5), a three-way traffic streetlight has been installed on Luckakuck near Hofstede’s Country Barn as part of a months-long public works project. While the light is not yet in operation, additional safety improvements are on the way.

Back in July 2024, Chilliwack City Council awarded a nearly $1.3 million contract to Breakwater Contracting Ltd. to construct a traffic signal and implement safety improvements near 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.

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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 voiced concerns at that July 2024 meeting around the close proximity of the traffic signal light at Luckakuck and Vedder, saying traffic lights in Chilliwack might not be synchronized properly, as in communicating with each other.

Mossey acknowledged at that same meeting 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.”