Kamloops city council is seen gathered at a regular city council meeting.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

The location of a multi-million dollar overpass has been a topic of debate between the City of Kamloops and Thompson Rivers University who are sharing the cost of the project, with the city having established a location and the university still pushing for a new one. 

At a council meeting earlier this month, the university requested council extend its project deadline of the first of March to allow the school to complete a commissioned study of the best location of the overpass by April. 

Council voted to send an ultimatum letter to the university stating if the study is only being done in order to move the overpass location, and if that's the case they'd back out of the project.  

After the university’s president Dr. Brett Fairbairn made a presentation at a council meeting yesterday, Feb. 27, city council changed its tone.

The parties have been at odds over where the overpass should be located with the school pushing for a placement at the McGill Road and Summit Drive intersection, a more southern location than what the city has settled on based on studies completed in 2012 and 2022.

Fairbairn said the 2012 study is outdated as it preceded the development of hundreds of units of housing on both side of Summit Drive in the past few years and doesn’t take into account plans for additional developments, and the 2022 study didn’t take a fresh look but relied on the first study..

“The streets adjacent to our campus have been deadly,” he said.

“A few years ago we had a staff member killed by traffic when she was struck by crossing legally in a marked crosswalk by a truck making a left turn. Just weeks ago we had a TRU student killed on McGill Road and others who received life changing injuries.

"At this time, based on the information we've got, we lack the confidence that enough research has been done."

City council voted to send another letter to the university requesting the city staff and university staff work together on the overpass project and that city staff be involved in the study.

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