It’s a construction zone minus the construction.
At least that’s what many motorists say about a stretch of highway 97 in West Kelowna.
The speed limit has been reduced to 50 kilometers an hour along bridge hill on the west side of the WR Bennett bridge as crews work on the Sneena Road Overpass.
However, many motorists say the speed reduction is unnecessary because all the construction work is being done next to the highway and not on the road itself.
“There is no construction on the highway it’s off the highway so and there are no flaggers actually on highway,” says one motorist.
“They don’t seem to be that close when I look I don’t really see construction workers there as well so no I don’t think it is necessary,” says another driver.
Despite several highway signs warning motorists to slow down, few are actually reducing their speeds.
That has been resulting in a lot of speeding tickets from police.
Recently in just a 20 day span, RCMP issued 157 speeding tickets along that stretch of road.
While it may seem police are targeting that area more than others, RCMP say that’s not the case.
“I would refute that I mean we go to enforce speed limits in all construction zones and that particular zone is very visible,” says Kelowna RCMP Cst. Kris Clark.
The ministry of transportation and infrastructure is responsible for the speed reduction.
It says that the road had to be realigned to detour around the construction site, a realignment it says was designed for a maximum of 50 kilometers per hour.
The reduced speed will be in effect until construction is complete likely in November.
Speeding tickets in construction zones start at $196 and go all the way up to $483.
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