Preparations for Thunder in the Valley are underway at Stamp Avenue.
City of Port Alberni crews began work on removing the centre median and preparing the curb for barriers on Tuesday, according to streets charge hand Harold Schut.
“We’re excavating the centre islands out and we have a small amount of grind and paving to do tomorrow,” said Schut.
Crews will also be building a new exit out of Catalyst Paper and a burnout box over the next week.
“We have the burnout box which will be installed in road and we’re putting in an extra driveway out of Catalyst for the drivers.”
The new entrance way will be located near the railroad tracks.
Almost half a kilometre of concrete barriers will also be installed.
“On the east side of stamp we’ve got 480 metres of concrete barriers.”
Council approved $73,000 worth of work in February—$40,000 to remove the centre median and repave and repaint around it and $33,000 for the concrete medians. Another $20,000 had been considered for extra liability insurance at the time but according to director of finance Cathy Rothwell, "liability coverage that meets insurance professionals’ recommendations is in place and paid by the Alberni Valley Drag Racing Association, and the association has indicated that they will place an additional event policy for the duration of the event."
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