Dollarton Highway and Main Street interchange to be reconfigured

The province has awarded the contract to reconfigure the Dollarton Highway and Main Street interchange.

The $8.5-million construction contract has been awarded to Lafarge Canada Inc.

“People in North Vancouver will benefit from the changes, which will help traffic to flow better and help vehicles safely merge. It will improve safety, reduce traffic congestion and provide better transit accessibility to and from Highway 1,” the province said.

The work will reconfigure the eastbound Dollarton Highway and Main Street on-ramps to share the third lane of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge using adaptive signalling.

Adaptive signal-control technology adjusts the timing of red, yellow and green lights to accommodate changing traffic patterns to ease traffic congestion and provide a safer merge.

This will improve traffic flow and reduce travel time for people heading eastbound, the province said.

The signalling system will also help reduce fuel consumption and lessen greenhouse gas emissions caused by idling cars, the province added.

The project will also include a new bus queue jump lane that will make it easier for buses to enter the highway from the Phibbs exchange.

Various active-transportation improvements are also being made that will make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to enter and exit the North Shore, Ironworkers and local transit stations.

Construction on this segment of the Lower Lynn Improvement Project is expected to begin in the coming weeks with completion expected for fall 2021.