Kelowna Chamber calling for second Okanagan Lake crossing
Frustrated with the lack of action on highway improvements in the Central Okanagan, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is calling on the province to get to work.
“Our region is expected to add a combined 60,000 people by 2040 yet no major infrastructure projects are on the books,” chamber president Dan Price wrote in a letter to Minister of Highways Rob Fleming released to the media today, June 23.
“Please let us know if this is incorrect and a second crossing, reducing the number of controlled intersections, plus the consideration of bypass routes are still to be considered prior to 2040.”
The province recently unveiled its regional plan to improve the flow of traffic through the region. While it talks about a couple of interchanges in West Kelowna and improvements to the Glenmore/Beaver Lake Road crossing in Lake Country there’s nothing much planned for the congested Highway 97 corridor through Kelowna.
“In 2022, the BC Chamber adopted the policy, ‘Accelerating Transportation Infrastructure To Serve One of The Fastest Growing Regional Economies In Canada,’” the letter says. “It was meant to draw attention to the glaring lack of investment in both planning and tangible investments in transportation infrastructure to serve this fast-growing region of the province.
“Our recommendations were that the provincial government, in part, re-engage the business community and industry leaders in the Okanagan in identifying and implementing strategic regional investments in the transportation network including but not limited to accelerating the planning of a second crossing of Okanagan Lake.
“Despite that effort, aside from highway maintenance, it appears we are all but being ignored when it comes to major provincial investment in transportation infrastructure. Previous ministry planning efforts did focus on the need for overpasses instead of controlled intersections and of course the much sought after and publicly talked about – second crossing – but all that appears to be in the distant past.”
The letter also points out that some recent transportation studies were based on 2016 census data. The 2021 census showed that the Central Okanagan was the fastest growing major metropolitan area in the country. That pace of growth has not slowed down.
The letter also points out that eight of the top ten crash intersections in the southern Interior are in Kelowna, with seven of them on the provincially controlled highway through the city where there were 17 fatal crashes in 2022.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
