Improved access to Westminster Pier Park coming this summer – The Record (New Westminster)

A new way of accessing Westminster Pier Park is expected to be in place this summer.

Construction of a new overpass into Westminster Pier Park from the Front Street Parkade at Sixth Street got underway last spring. The overpass will include stairs and an accessible ramp, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to get to and from Westminster Pier Park.

As part of its Pier West development on the west side of the park, Bosa Developments committed to building an overpass and an elevator. The city, however, preferred that a ramp be built because it wanted to increase accessibility options for those going to the park and to avoid some of the issues its had with the existing elevator access into the park at Fourth Street.

Work related to the pedestrian overpass and ramp continues, as does the planning/design and intended construction for the new plaza and play area to be constructed beneath the ramp, said Dean Gibson, the citys director of parks and recreation. Our best scheduling assessment at this timeindicates that the overpass and ramp will be complete in late June.

Construction of the plaza and play area around the base of the overpass is intended to start in July, with completion in the early fall of 2020.

As you might guess, there are many factors currently impacting the construction industry at this time, so all timelines are subject to change pending local market conditions, Gibson said in an email to the Record.The city continues to prioritize the completion of this project at this time.

Currently, visitors have two ways to access Westminster Pier Park; they can enter by an elevator at Fourth Street (at the Front Street parkade) or they can use a ground-level access on the west side of the site.

At the April 6 council meeting, city staff voiced concerns that the current connection between Fraser River Discovery Centre and Westminster Pier Park, which goes through the Bosa construction site, is a narrow corridor that has limited sight lines, which is posing constraints for physical distancing. Because of social distancing in response to COVID-19, staff has recommended the introduction of one-way travel through this corridor during times of peak use, the provision of an alternate return route to the waterfront via Columbia and Front streets and the provision of on-site traffic control personnel to manage people going to the park.

Once the new overpass is complete, people will be able to walk onto the parkade at Sixth Street and use the new pedestrian/cyclist overpass and ramp to get in and out of the park.

The overpass structure, which will extend over the rail tracks, will be assembled off-site and will be delivered as a complete unit to the site, where it will be installed over the rail tracks using a mobile crane.

During construction of the overpass, the childrens playground in Pier Park thats closest to River Market has been closed. The city will build a new playground at the same location.

Pier West, which is now under construction at 660 Quayside Dr. will include 53- and 43-storey residential towers, a three-storey commercial building with child-care and retail space, an extension to Westminster Pier Park, a public plaza, surface and underground parking and about two acres of park.

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Improved access to Westminster Pier Park coming this summer - The Record (New Westminster)