WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – “I’m really hopeful we can get a bypass. That’s my No. 1 goal,” says Peachland resident Debora Kelly.
Kelly was one of a number of Peachland residents who attended an open house Monday night hosted by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) on the future of Highway 97 through the Central Okanagan and a potential second crossing of Okanagan Lake.
While the information session was planned specifically to discuss a new bridge, Peachland residents want to ensure Highway 97 is not expanded in their town.
“My No. 1 concern is if we do a big four-lane freeway through our small town of Peachland, it’ll change us forever,” says Kelly.
“It will destroy our town,” says Wolfgang Muhs.
Muhs does not believe a second bridge over Okanagan Lake is important, but instead came to the information meeting to speak up about the Highway 97 corridor through his hometown.
“Peachland is a jewel of the Okanagan and, in our mind, it has huge potential for further development,” says Muhs. “But until there’s a decision about the highway, we’re just stalled. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“I think it should skirt up above and connect into Highway 97C,” says Barry Wright.
Officials from the Ministry were on hand to hear input on the future of Highway 97 across Okanagan Lake. Murray Tekano, MoTI Senior Project Manager, says Peachland expansion is not on the books.
“There are actually no plans right now to do improvements of that nature,” says Tekano. “But it is something we need to look at for the future, which is what should the highway through Peachland look like.”
When it comes to congestion through the Central Okanagan, Tekano got an earful Monday night.
“I commute to Kelowna every day and during the summer every day, especially, it’s brutal,” says Aimee Jensen. “I have written down a suggestion of maybe doing a second crossing close to the current bridge, maybe connecting with Springfield Road. The summer is awful. I try and bike sometimes because it’s almost as fast to bike.”
“I would get away from the 1950s which is what Highway 97 is and I would talk about an entirely new corridor,” says Barry Wright. “That’s what people wanted in the 1950s because they thought it improved business. Now all it does is impede business.”
At least one person believed the WAC Bennett bridge is enough to serve traffic from north to south in the Central Okanagan.
“People here have no idea what traffic problems are,” says Steve Bateman. “These are very minute (problems).”
Tekano says a second crossing won’t be needed for at least another 25 years but it’s still close enough to plan for it.
“It’s our estimation that the current bridge will function very well but we do believe by about 2040, we will be near the capacity of that bridge,” says Tekano of the WAC Bennett crossing, built to replace an aging floating structure in 2008.
The Ministry says only about 4 per cent of traffic along Highway 97 is going through town with the bulk of traffic local commuters.
A second open house on the second crossing will take place December 1 at the Kelowna Ramada Inn on Harvey Avenue from 4 to 8 p.m.
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