Deadly highway focus of upgrades

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: August 26, 2010 6:00 PM

Improvements are being made to a deadly stretch of North Okanagan highway. The Ministry of Transportation is moving ahead with some immediate changes to Highway 97 and Bailey Road, south of Vernon, and more extensive work is expected in the spring. “I’m very pleased a citizen can write the minister and be well received,” said Bruce Roberts, a Predator Ridge resident who has been lobbying for safety upgrades. “I’m very pleased they responded and something is happening.” A ministry review indicates that 76 collisions occurred at the intersection between 2000 and 2009. This year, Kelowna resident Kim Todd died June 7 when she was struck by a southbound minivan as she tried to pull out on to the highway from Bailey Road. The work that should be completed by mid-September includes:

• An overhead flashing light to highlight the presence of the intersection.
• Speed reader boards on Highway 97, north and south of the intersection, which will display vehicle speeds to make motorists aware if they are exceeding the speed limit.
• Larger and more reflective warning and regulatory signs.
• Stop Ahead warning signs and tactile warning strips on Bailey Road in advance of the intersection.

Designs are also being drafted for other improvements that should be initiated in the spring. They include:

• Construction of a new right-turn acceleration lane for traffic turning south from Bailey Road.
• Extension of the right-turn lane for traffic turning on to Bailey Road to include additional deceleration length.
• Extension of the northbound left-turn lane on Highway 97 to include additional deceleration length.

The ministry conducted an engineering safety review of the intersection in June. “The engineering safety work included a review and analysis of crash data at the intersection, a field survey of the intersection and approaches and analysis of the intersection, geometry, traffic speeds and traffic volumes,” said Murray Tekano, the ministry’s district manager, in a letter to Roberts. While Roberts welcomes the ministry’s actions to date, he believes they should only be considered a beginning and not the end of a process. “I hope they have their eye on a proper overpass there. I hope they are doing design work for an overpass,” he said.

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On the road to safer highway Morning Star Editorial Published: August 26, 2010 6:00 PM

It’s heartening to see work being done to make the intersection of Highway 97 and Bailey Road, south of Vernon, a safer thoroughfare for all concerned. A ministry review discovered there have been 76 accidents at this infamous intersection in the past decade, the most notable of late in June when a young Kelowna woman lost her life. It’s sad that it appears to have taken this latest fatality to spark the review but maybe the changes going on right now will help avert any more tragedies at the intersection that is seeing more and more traffic as development in the area increases. Bruce Roberts, a Predator Ridge resident who made an impressive, behind-the-scenes presentation to the Ministry of Transportation in helping get these changes made, is pleased with what has transpired but hopes for more in the future, including an overpass. Whether the traffic count, and the financial cost, justifies or warrants such an outcome can be debated in the future.

However, there’s no doubt that flashing lights, better signage and the eventual construction of turn lanes will go a long way in making the intersection safer and create less potential for accidents, fatal and otherwise. Once that is done we recommend the ministry look at the Birnie Road access to the disposal station (dump) off Highway 97 as an intersection in dire need of safety improvements. But one project at a time. And while the HST protest gets all the ink and the hoopla, it should be noted how a quiet but effective and well-researched lobbying campaign by one person can get the government moving in the right direction.