Castanet

We've seen major accidents on HWY 97 between Penticton and Kelowna and a number of natural disasters that have closed the road. Is it time to consider a better maintained secondary road North?

This could have winter tourism spin off benefits with Penticton sandwiched between Apex and Big White, reducing drive time to Big White down to around 1 hour. A possible rough construction estimate at $1 m / km would come in around $68 million.

Thoughts?
http://imgur.com/a/1PbG2#T45bbiy

I like the idea and I suspect when funds are available the next phase of 4-lane between West Bank and Antlers Beach will be built. Where that goes is a bit of a mystery right now...maybe up and hook into the last bit of the connector. Just stay away from traffic killing traffic lights.
Years ago Penticton put a by-pass in to speed up transitioning through town and what do they do, start sticking more traffic lights on it, road/bridge to no-where on Green is the latest example.

Hwy 97 I believe should be 4-laned from the border to the junction of Hwy 1. Nothing that a zillion dollars won't fix.

The idea of an east side Penticton/Kelowna corridor comes up now and then but never seems to go anywhere.

fluffy wrote:The idea of an east side Penticton/Kelowna corridor comes up now and then but never seems to go anywhere.

Upgrade to 4 lanes along Naramata road....push back there. Private property above Naramata road and the KVR. Park status above Naramata. KVR now part of the Trans Canada Trail, push back if it was to be altered....
Up and over the top and past Chute lake....4-5 feet of snow every winter...cost of snowplowing let alone construction.

4 lane down to Kelowna....where? and likely push back because of traffic.

I get it but doubt in our lifetime. Just upgrade to 4 lanes with minimal points of congestion ( traffic lights) will work for the time being me thinks.

What about improving the 201? Its a super wide road even now (though gravel) and no properties would be displaced/affected along the way. Once up Carmi road its clear sailing all the way towards Big white. Only the access to get to the 201 from Penticton or Ok Falls would need widening, etc.

The 201 route with a few modifications seems like it would be the easiest, and as you mention the road is already in pretty good condition. This would also have a great benefit of bypassing a lot of the Kelowna traffic if anyone is heading further north.

nihiriju wrote:The 201 route with a few modifications seems like it would be the easiest, and as you mention the road is already in pretty good condition. This would also have a great benefit of bypassing a lot of the Kelowna traffic if anyone is heading further north.

I believe that the 201 was used by a lot of folks needing to get to Kelowna when that slide by Peachland happened. Its a natural choice; could even modify the South end to more gently enter Highway 97 near Ok Falls and have the Carmi access as a feeder route to and from Penticton. Anything is possible.

nihiriju wrote:The 201 route with a few modifications seems like it would be the easiest, and as you mention the road is already in pretty good condition. This would also have a great benefit of bypassing a lot of the Kelowna traffic if anyone is heading further north.

The 201 is a very active logging road .
To get from the valley bottom up to 201 from Penticton your gaining over 3500 ft of elevation and most of that is in the first 2-3 miles . Would be a engineering nightmare to make it a useable safe 4 lane highway just to get Carmi road to the junction of the 201 .
But with a new NDP-Green coalition government guess anything is possible

I'm not a fan of the NDP but one of the things that works for me is the Nanaimo by-pass.( built in the 90"s I believe) 4 lights and quick movement past the 40 kph gridlock in that city. Now if the same could be done for the Hwy. 97 parking lot some call Harvey Ave...
OK back to topic. Any road on the east side is expensive, has snow issues, Not the best road infrastructure in Penticton to feed and is there enough traffic to warrant the bypass if the west side is eventually 4-laned all the way to Sicamous?
I'm not sure if the 201 is used for logging as much as it used to. Gorman has some chart area up there but pulls north to Kelowna and Weyco has little left up there I thought compared to years past. In the Past the logging trucks were pulling tree lengths with 10 foot bunks ( illegal on hwy) down to OK Falls.

blueliner wrote:
To get from the valley bottom up to 201 from Penticton your gaining over 3500 ft of elevation and most of that is in the first 2-3 miles . Would be a engineering nightmare to make it a useable safe 4 lane highway just to get Carmi road to the junction of the 201 .

Would be an engineering nightmare just to make a highway grade two lane road to the 201 junction. Might be a business plan for it one day.......say 50 to 100 yrs. Ain't gonna happen before that.

blueliner wrote:The 201 is a very active logging road .
To get from the valley bottom up to 201 from Penticton your gaining over 3500 ft of elevation and most of that is in the first 2-3 miles . Would be a engineering nightmare to make it a useable safe 4 lane highway just to get Carmi road to the junction of the 201 .
But with a new NDP-Green coalition government guess anything is possible

Sound very much like Hwy 24 out of little Fort, you climb over 3,000 ft in first 20 minutes or less.

pentona wrote:I believe that the 201 was used by a lot of folks needing to get to Kelowna when that slide by Peachland happened. Its a natural choice; could even modify the South end to more gently enter Highway 97 near Ok Falls and have the Carmi access as a feeder route to and from Penticton. Anything is possible.

That seems like a good potential path forward. I don't think we need a new super highway, only a small secondary access route to relieve a bit of congestion, allow easier access to a few amenities and provide a reliable backup in the inevitable event of major traffic incidents or natural disasters. If the road was designed for 80km/hr I think it would be functional, the main issue as you mention is finding the right connection back into 97 on the South end.

GordonH wrote:

blueliner wrote:
Sound very much like Hwy 24 out of little Fort, you climb over 3,000 ft in first 20 minutes or less.

Perhaps, but they don't have a Hwy 97 alternative as an option.

GordonH wrote:Sound very much like Hwy 24 out of little Fort, you climb over 3,000 ft in first 20 minutes or less.

twobits wrote:Perhaps, but they don't have a Hwy 97 alternative as an option.

That was my post not blue liner.

Actual they have Yellowhead hwy 5

GordonH wrote:

GordonH wrote:Sound very much like Hwy 24 out of little Fort, you climb over 3,000 ft in first 20 minutes or less.

twobits wrote:Perhaps, but they don't have a Hwy 97 alternative as an option.

That was my post not blue liner.

Actual they have Yellowhead hwy 5

Highway 24 runs from LIttle Fort to 100 Mile. Highway 5 runs to Tete Jeune and then either Alberta or Prince George. A really long detour. Way shorter to go to Kamloops and around.