Terminal Avenue Upgrades

News Release June 20: Council gives green light to Terminal Avenue Upgrade Project

Phase 1 - Esplanade to Commercial Street

Phase 1 of the Terminal Avenue Upgrades project is moving ahead and is expected to start construction in July 4, 2023. In addition to required utility upgrades, this phase will seek to accomplish an enhanced pedestrian experience, improve crossing facilities at Commercial Street, Gordon Street and Esplanade and resurface the vehicle lanes.

Proposed Terminal Upgrades - Looking North

  Proposed Terminal Upgrades - Looking South

Italian Square Park and Pioneer Park

Due to concerns for public safety the City fenced Italian Square Park from public use March 2021, and Pioneer Square Park in August 2021. Both parks have remained closed since then, with the intention reopening the parks as a gateway feature into downtown. 

With both Pioneer Square Park and the Italian Square Park being adjacent to the limits of the Terminal Avenue Upgrades Phase 1 Project, there is an opportunity to incorporate both parks into the overall vision for the corridor, which is to provide a more human-scale experience. 

Italian Square Park presents an opportunity to be visually appealing from Terminal and provide a pleasant pedestrian gateway into the Nanaimo Casino and Port Place Mall.

By pushing the sidewalk, complete with pedestrian scale lighting, around the north side of the Fountain and adding mounded plantings, the new installations will effectively frame the fountain for the traveling public. Further, having the northbound terminal rapid bus bay utilize the same space will activate the area and give passengers comfortable access to the Port Place Mall.

Italian Square Park - Looking South 

Pioneer Square Park presents an excellent opportunity to provide a gateway to the downtown core, one of the goals determined in the Terminal-Nicol Reimagined Engagement.  Proposed Pioneer Square Park Improvements generally consist of:

• Removal of the sidewalk along Terminal Avenue, instead connecting pedestrians to the sidewalk on Victoria Crescent
• Planting of perennial shrubs as a gateway feature
• Shifting of the sidewalk away from the business frontage

Pioneer Park - Looking South

Terminal Avenue Phases 2 & 3 (Commercial Street to Wentworth Street & Wentworth Street to Stewart Avenue)

These phases will undergo a functional design study in 2023 and be divided into detailed design assignments with construction target in subsequent years.