A South Okanagan woman is voicing her frustrations over ongoing road work near Summerland, B.C.
It’s been just over eight weeks since roughly 175 cubic metres of debris came crashing down onto Highway 97 just south of Summerland. Since then, crews have been working to ensure the area is safe for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, including putting up a retaining wall, but there have been challenges along the way.
Two more landslides over a three-week span from mid-May to early June in the same area resulted in several road closures and single-lane alternating traffic. One woman from Penticton says she’s fed up with the amount of time it’s taking for crews to finish the job.
“I just don’t think they think it’s a big deal, honestly, and if they did think it was a big deal, they’d be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” explained Penticton resident, Mary-Ellen Mason.
“It’s a major highway and we’re a huge summer destination. There are people that need to commute, medical appointments and all sorts of things.”
Mason says the biggest challenge is the single-lane alternating traffic. On Saturday, she claims she had to wait over an hour to get through the construction zone.
“During the week no one is there, then suddenly on a Saturday on a weekend in the summer, there’s workers there,” said Mason.
“It’s been beyond frustrating for eight weeks. You can’t have it one lane, no matter what. You have to have two lanes open.”
The Penticton resident tells Global News she has called Premier David Eby’s office and the Ministry of Transportation but says she has not received a response from either. She has also contacted Penticton MLA Dan Ashton, who has called for improved alternate routes to Highway 97 in the past– something Mason also wants to see.
“The Okanagan is growing — we’re not getting smaller, so we need to be proactive and start working on it now,” said Mason.
“There’s a forest road that’s there already that we’ve used before in an emergency.”
The stretch of highway returned to single-lane alternating traffic on Saturday following more blasting work.
The Ministry of Transportation has stated is expects the work to be completed by the middle of July.