Access to UBCO via Curtis Road tightened

[Grandan]

The City of Kelowna sees this as "not their problem". Upper levels of government are perfectly capable of solving this, it just takes time.

[Grandan]

This outlines the basic issues:
http://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcowatershed/2015/ ... co-access/

[Steve-O]

Thanks Grandan. That blog certainly helps put some perspective to the issue. I'm still curious if there was a "straw that broke the camels back" that put the residents up in arms and had them fight the easement.

[Grandan]

Dating back to 1990 or so there was a community plan which showed a new road running across to Glenmore from what was then Okanagan College. The City was conducting an OCP review, holding public meetings and so on. A developer was attempting to prove that his development was positioned to be developed during the next 20 years. As part of the rationale it was pointed out that that the road in question led right into his development providing a direct route to highway 97. So when the new OCP came out in 1994 this new road was missing, what a surprise! Instead, the Mckinley Rd. connector was left in place. In addition, the land developers property was cut out of the OCP 1994-2013 plan
Around about 2011 when the latest OCP was drafted, John Hindle Dr. was back on the map but so was the McKinley connector but was subsequently dropped. The city got a mad on for a developer and screwed the entire Glenmore area because of it. Instead, copious amounts of money have been spent to improve infrastructure (where else) in the Mission.
Not only that but when the Rutland Town Centre plan was drafted, the same developer had his personal property excluded,
despite not being in the ALR which boundary was used to define the plan margins.
Had the City not taken the route that it did, JHD could have been built many years ago but someone in a position to do so convinced everyone else that it did not have the priority to proceed and that is why, Dick and Jane, you still cannot get through the back door at UBCO, small town petty politics at it's worst.
The most recent accident which shut down Hwy 97 near the airport diverted thousands of vehicles onto Sexsmith Road, Union, Valley Road N, Scenic and Glenmore Road. Poor planning has lead to this ridiculous situation.
I don't know why the city has a mad-on for the Glenmore area but it exists and I can cite other examples.

[Grandan]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story--1-.htm

Since city officials do not need to use any of the bike paths (or lack of them) to reach the university, there is no motivation for them to advocate for improvements. The City is hinging all it's improvements on the rail corridor being used as an access.
Planning exercise complete. Well what about the west access? The answer is John Hindle Drive which will not be finished for 2 years and when it is, it is a long way round. The city is simply paying lip service to cycling.

[OgopogoO]

I will only ever bike up to campus if and when they create dedicated bike lanes that don't share space with cars. There is no biking culture here as in Europe. Anyone biking on the roads is exponentially increasing their chances of being injured or dying.

[Captain Awesome]

Oh yes, the deadly dangers of being outside.

[Grandan]

I will only ever bike up to campus if and when they create dedicated bike lanes that don't share space with cars. There is no biking culture here as in Europe. Anyone biking on the roads is exponentially increasing their chances of being injured or dying.

There was a day when bike access to Okanagan College via Benvoulin Road was just plain nasty. Benvoulin had no bike paths and to make it worse, a 1ft wide strip of asphalt was pasted onto the road travelling lane leaving a bicycle tire width of a gap in the asphalt. So your choice was to ride on the vehicle lane, ride on the 1 ft wide strip beside it or ride in the 4" deep gap in the pavement.
There was a bike lane on KLO but it was rarely swept so it was either dodge debris or ride on the travelled portion of the road and get honked at, Yup, that's what the drivers did in those days, got 2 ft behind you and then layed on the horn.
I eventually stopped riding my bike when I realized I was 20 seconds away from paralysis and I had a young family to feed.
I had used up all my near death experiences.

[Grandan]

Here is another update on Curtis, an application to close the end of Curtis where it meets the GEID flume:

5.6 1079 Curtis Road (Road at end of)  Adjacent to GEID Flume, BL11097 - Road
Closure Bylaw
131 - 132
To give Bylaw No. 11097 first, second and third readings in order to close a
potion of Road at end of 1079 Curtis Road.
5.5 Partial Road Closure – Adjacent to GEID Flume Lands 127 - 130
To close a portion of unused road to facilitate a land exchange with the
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (“UBCO”) as required for the
construction of John Hindle Drive.
5.6 1079 Curtis Road (Road at end of)  Adjacent to GEID Flume, BL11097 - Road
Closure Bylaw
131 - 132
To give Bylaw No. 11097 first, second and third readings in order to close a
potion of Road at end of 1079 Curtis Road.

[Damien]

Won't this sort of become a moot point once the last phase of John Hindle drive is put in? Seems like 2016/2017 it should be wrapped up.

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page3478.aspx

[Grandan]

For cyclists, access to UBCO from Glenmore via John Hindle Drive will be more convenient than the alternative route via Hwy 97 and Sexsmith Rd.
There is a considerable elevation change in addition to the distance traveled as compared to the Curtis Road access for those few entitled to use it (being mostly Health students and faculty).
Hopefully the trail around the north side of Robert Lake through RDCO parkland can be completed soon to augment the much longer John Hindle Dr. route.