Work to install two pedestrian rail crossings along West Beach between the pier and Bayview Park got underway this week.
The at-grade, zigzag crossings will provide controlled access to the waterfront at Anderson and Oxford streets.
The project also includes widening the promenade at both crossings, replacement of the retaining wall and the installation of mesh along the black handrailing – measures intended to further discourage illegal crossing of the tracks.
White Rock council last month authorized nearly $500,000 in interim funding to expedite the work, which is anticipated to be complete in June.
The early nod was needed in advance of the city's 2015-2019 financial plan adoption – scheduled for later this month – in order for the work to be finished in time for summer.
The measures are in response to Transport Canada orders that were issued in the wake of a jogger's death on East Beach tracks in July 2013.
Other steps already taken include the installation in February of a six-foot-high, wrought-iron-style fence along 160 feet of East Beach on the north side of the train tracks. Chainlink mesh was added to East Beach handrails in December.