by Lyonel Doherty

A proposal to establish passing lanes on Highway 97 north of Oliver is getting mixed reviews.

A public open house in the legion hall last week attracted a number of residents for and against the 1.5-kilometre project estimated to cost $10 million.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure wants to establish passing lanes in the McIntyre Bluff area, starting just north of Gallagher Lake and ending at Eagle Bluff. The primary objectives are to ease traffic congestion and improve safety.

Senior project manager Rampaul Dulay said this section of roadway sees high traffic volumes during the summer (more than 8,400 vehicles per day). The average is 6,400.

Statistics show that motorists spend 86 per cent of their time following other vehicles, with the average speed being 72 km/h. Dulay said this results in congestion, delays and driver frustration, which leads to unsafe passing behaviour. He noted there were 12 collisions on this section of highway between 2001-2010. These included two injury and 10 property damage collisions. Eight per cent of these collisions were caused by overtaking other vehicles.

“When motorists get frustrated, it causes accidents,” Dulay said, noting the greatest reduction of accidents comes from providing passing lanes.

The project involves the construction of northbound and southbound passing lanes with a paved median in the middle. It will include a two-metre wide shoulder for cyclists and pedestrians.

One of the challenges the ministry will face is dealing with the impacts on the environment (antelope brush and endangered species).

“We will try to minimize the impacts on these environmentally sensitive areas,” Dulay said.

Donna Olsen, an environmental services technician for the ministry, said they are in contact with The Nature Trust of BC, which has property adjacent to the proposal. “So we’re pushing the impact to the other side,” Olsen said.

She noted they will complete an environmental assessment, addressing the endangered species issue and the antelope brush.

Olsen stated the ministry addressed this issue during the Osoyoos passing lane project by erecting directional fencing and establishing culverts for species to navigate safely.

Oliver resident Tish Tessier said she favours the four-laning proposal, noting the ministry must think ahead and prepare for future increases in traffic. She also agreed that driver frustration over the inability to pass safely can lead to accidents.

Bob Hutton from Oliver said he would rather see the ministry upgrade Fairview/White Lake Road from Oliver to Okanagan Falls.

Local resident Gordon Scott said he thinks the project is a waste of time and won’t do anything to improve traffic safety.

Gallagher Lake resident Peter Morrow agreed, saying he’s not convinced that new passing lanes in this area will prevent more accidents. “I don’t see an accident waiting to happen there.”

Marianne Hutterli said her only concern is the potential “bottleneck” situation the passing lanes will create at McIntyre bridge.

Resident Dave Vanslageren agreed, saying the bridge is too narrow to handle the project. But he did say the new lanes will help speed up summertime traffic.

Dulay said the southbound passing lane will end approximately half a kilometre before the McIntyre Creek bridge. Therefore, traffic will be back into the existing two-lane section prior to the bridge. He stated there are no plans to widen the bridge at this time.

Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said the passing lanes in the area in question are necessary to take away driver frustration and improve road safety.

But environmental advocate Paula Rodriguez de la Vega said there needs to be careful consideration to the impacts the project will have on the local ecosystem.

“The McIntyre location is a biodiversity hotspot and I would like to learn more about the kinds of studies the ministry has done to prove that the proposed location is relatively harmless to the ecology of the area.”

De la Vega wants to know the implications of increasing the road size and destroying important habitat.

“As a driver, I have lost count of the number of dead snakes I’ve seen along there, along with a dead Lewis’s woodpecker, all listed as species at risk.”

She worries about the implications of expanding the highway and having more mammals, reptiles and amphibians being run over by vehicles.