Stickle Road project manager Rampaul Dulay at an open house April 30. The original right in, right out only plan presented to the public has now been scrapped.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
May 19, 2015 - 4:30 PM
VERNON - A controversial plan to change the intersection of Stickle Road and Highway 97 has been shelved.
Vernon-Monashee MLA Eric Foster says the idea of eliminating lefthand turns from Stickle Road onto the highway has been thrown out, and the Province will come up with a new plan for improving the intersection.
“The Transportation Minister and I sat down last week and we agreed this isn’t going to work out. We’re spending a lot of money here, and it’s not what the people we’re spending it for want,” Foster says.
There was widespread criticism over the project from municipal government to members of the public, and Foster had his own concerns with the original plan as well.
“My big concern is as that commercial corridor expands, that will bring a lot more traffic in there. The traffic (under the original plan) would be routed up through Pleasant Valley Road to get back into Vernon and that concerned me simply because that’s a residential area,” Foster says.
He says the original $3-million plan is off the table for good, and hopes to see a new concept by the end of next week. Members of the community have made their desire for a traffic light plain, but Foster says that might not be the solution either.
“There’s a whole lot of other factors you have to take into consideration — traffic flow and movement and so on. All those things will be discussed moving forward,” Foster days.
Some criticized the Ministry for presenting a finalized plan to the community and hampering public consultation, but Foster says the process unfolded precisely as it should.
“The whole idea of taking a plan to the public is to get their input. That’s what this was all about,” Foster says. “We listened to what the public had to say and we’re going back to the drawing board.”
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015