Eight trees will be cut down along East First Avenue in Vancouver during FortisBC’s work to replace a gas line running from Vancouver to Coquitlam. They include ash, cherry, maple and pine trees, mostly ranging between seven and 12 years old. One is approximately 30 years old.
Read background about the gas line project here.
The trees, located on the centre median near the Renfrew and Rupert intersections, will be replaced but the replacement trees may not be the same type or size or be planted in the same location.
“We understand how important trees are to communities and we make every effort to minimize the removal of trees. One of the reasons we selected East 1st Avenue as the route for our FortisBC Gas Line Upgrades in Vancouver was to minimize impacts to trees. Of all the routes we considered, this one would disturb trees the least,” Grace Pickell, FortisBC’s communications manager for major projects, told the Courier in an email.
She said the tree removal is required to allow for changes to traffic patterns and to ensure the safety of the public and employees during construction.
The City of Vancouver will mark and remove the trees, which Pickell said is similar to what happened to seven trees that were taken down from the centre median last summer as part of early construction work near Boundary Road.
“As the project moves forward, we will continue to minimize our impact and assess whether we need to remove additional trees. We are committed to working in an environmentally responsible manner to address tree removal and bird nesting, and carefully adhere to applicable environmental legislation when completing works of this kind,” Pickell wrote.
FortisBC is also upgrading its facility at Woodland Drive and East Second Avenue as part of the upgrading project. Some trees have already been removed at that location and the utility has a restoration plan in place for once construction is completed.
Advance work on the gas line upgrading project, involving locating underground utilities such as water lines, started April 19 and will continue until April 28.
The overall project will require partial lanes closures on the portion of the route between Nanaimo Street and Boundary Road starting later this spring on about May 22. This stretch of road is divided into several sections: Nanaimo to Renfrew, Renfrew to Rupert and Rupert to Boundary.
There will also be a full closure of the stretch of East First Avenue between Clark Drive and Nanaimo Street between mid-June and the end of August. The full construction schedule will be on the project website by April 27. Regular updates will also be shared.
Two types of construction methods will be used to install the gas line.
One is an open trench method, similar to what’s done for municipal projects such as sewer or waterline upgrades, which will require lane closures. Crews dig a trench, lay down a gas line, refill the trench and repave the road.
The other is trenchless construction, which involves digging a tunnel underground and pushing the gas line through. It will be used at major intersections that cross the project.
There is a public information session about the Vancouver portion of FortisBC’s project at Britannia Community Centre at 1661 Napier St. April 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
More information about the upgrading work can be found at talkingenergy.ca.
noconnor@vancourier.com
@naoibh
