$45M Upgrade For Westside Road

Written by Peter McIntyre Friday, 03 October 2014 11:38
The province has announced a major upgrade for Westside Road, which has been described as one of the worst roads in the province in surveys. Premier Christy Clark says 45 million dollars will be spent over the next five years to make the road between Vernon and West Kelowna safer for families and tourists. "For too many years now Westside Road has been on the BCAA 'worst roads' list and our government is going to fix that," says Clark. "We made a commitment to improve safety and reliability on Westside Road, and we're delivering." Today's announcement involves two new construction projects with a total estimated cost of $10 million. Emil Anderson Construction of Kelowna has been awarded the contract for improvements from Waterfront Farm to Blue Grouse. An 800-metre section will be widened to have 3.6 metre-wide lanes with paved shoulders, roadside barrier and rockfall protection measures. Construction began in late September and will be completed in fall 2015. A second project at the north end of Westside Road will see an 8.7-kilometre section resurfaced between the Highway 97 junction and Skookum Mine Road,10 kilometres northwest of Vernon. Okanagan Aggregates Ltd. of Armstrong won the contract and is scheduled to start work in early October and be finished by the end of the month. "Resurfacing the northern segment of Westside Road will benefit commuters to and from the Vernon area, and provide a smoother more comfortable ride for residents, tourists and everyone who is headed to the variety of recreational sites along Okanagan Lake," says Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo. Construction and paving may require intermittent delays for traffic as well as scheduled closures of Westside Road for short periods of the day. Information will be posted to: DriveBC.ca The latest projects are added to the $10.3 million previously invested in realignment, guardrail installation, resurfacing and construction of slow-moving pullouts on Westside Road since 2008.