The Cancellation of the Western Vernon Bypass

[stwilson]

I can't believe someone actually made a website about that. I am impressed. Although there would still be cars driving past all of these areas and the smog will also still be there, so it would really have no effect.

[Cumungala]

I heard they also wanted to extend 27 st to connect with Hwy 97 at 15 Ave

[Glacier]

I can't believe someone actually made a website about that. I am impressed. Although there would still be cars driving past all of these areas and the smog will also still be there, so it would really have no effect.

The only thing is, traffic would be moving instead of idling at traffic lights. I would guess 97 generated pollution through Vernon would be reduced by at least 25%.

[bob vernon]

Public opinion will swing in favour of the bypass when the horrific accident happens at the bottom of hospital hill involving a large truck having a brake failure coming down hospital hill. Most places would at least have a mandatory stop at the top of the hill for a brake check, but Vernon doesn't even have that, let alone a bypass.

If you've been around BC for long, you might recall the accident in Kamloops in the '80's at the bottom of a hill when a semi's brakes failed, killing several people. The result of the accident was the Kamloops bypass and interchanges. There was a portion of the 'Loops who were against the need for bypasses, interchanges, and new-fangled stuff like safety on the highway, but they got their wakeup call with that accident. I hope Vernon wakes up before the accident at the bottom of hospital hill happens.

[ventured]

Public opinion will swing in favour of the bypass when the horrific accident happens at the bottom of hospital hill involving a large truck having a brake failure coming down hospital hill. Most places would at least have a mandatory stop at the top of the hill for a brake check, but Vernon doesn't even have that, let alone a bypass.

If you've been around BC for long, you might recall the accident in Kamloops in the '80's at the bottom of a hill when a semi's brakes failed, killing several people. The result of the accident was the Kamloops bypass and interchanges. There was a portion of the 'Loops who were against the need for bypasses, interchanges, and new-fangled stuff like safety on the highway, but they got their wakeup call with that accident. I hope Vernon wakes up before the accident at the bottom of hospital hill happens.

Actually, the bypass was already there when that accident happened, but the truck driver mistakenly went down the wrong road, taking the City exit instead of keeping to the bypass.

[ventured]

I heard they also wanted to extend 27 st to connect with Hwy 97 at 15 Ave

That's in the plans, in 8-10 years. The bridge over the tracks was built with preperations for that. They will be widening 27th at hwy 6 shortly, not sure if it's with that in mind or not.

[stwilson]

Is there a way to use the bypass that does not have a hill? Also if you are only going 50km/hr I would suspect that a semi could gear down enough to avoid this problem. That would be why there is no brake check.

Plus if you say that they don't go the speed limit, that isn't a bypass issue, it is an enforcement issue.

Also I wouldn't want my kids hanging out and crossing under or over a freeway to get to school, I would rather have the idling.

[Glacier]

Also I wouldn't want my kids hanging out and crossing under or over a freeway to get to school, I would rather have the idling.

Why?

[stwilson]

Umm... because I enjoy urban neighbourhoods and do not want to live on the side of a freeway. But according to your plan we should remove all the stop signs in neighbourhoods in case there are families living nearby and the kids are playing near the intersection breathing in the smog from the stop and go traffic.

Good Planning...

[EMILIA]

North America is pretty much the only continent that has highways go through towns and villages. Highways bring noise pollution, traffic, air pollution, and frankly, I don't exactly enjoy walking along Hwy 97.

The decision to have a highway going through a small town is only a 'commercial' decision, not a livability decision. OOOOh, someone might lose some money because cars might avoid stopping in town to go shopping. Yeah, this whole country is driven by commercialism with little value placed on anything else that is actually more important in life such as living in a nice, clean environment, with quiet, beauty, enjoyment of walking, etc.

I'm ticked off that they bypass idea is off. As this town grows and traffic grows, this town will become more and more un-enjoyable...

E.

[okibindian]

It was something Vernon needed. To be bypassed.

[Cumungala]

They certainly do need that bypass. Kelowna needs a bypass too. Penticton already has one and you can get through town in 7 minutes. Ive been in Vernon during rush hour and it took 20 minutes to get from Hwy 6 to the overpass at the north end of town!

[bob vernon]

It is a complete and total lack of foresight and planning for the future. This land should be held, and if not needed right now, it could be left as a green corridor for a few decades. There will probably be some developer who will get a good deal on this land and make a bundle of money. Like previous councils in Vernon, I believe this one is too friendly with the real estate people. Just look at the career moves of former civic leaders. Why would some of these councilors be any different.

We will have our truck accident at the bottom of hospital hill, just like Kamloops did in the 1980's. It might take 20 years for a certain set of brakes to fail, but it likely will happen. When it does, fingers will be pointed, regrets expressed, and then the community will move on to planning for a bypass that will cost a lot more.

[superbee]

This topic seems to have faded away. I don't live in Vernon anymore, I am wondering what has happened in the past 2 years regarding the Bypass? Has anything been brought up in the upcoming civic elections?

I was watching the CFJC TV Kamloops News at 1 pm the day the trucker went down the wrong way in Kamloops and plowed into all the vehicles at the bottom of the hill. The newscaster, Stu Blakely, came on with a very shocked face, so we knew he had some terrible news.

I am puzzled why there is not a Vernon brake check before the trucks hit the hospital hill. When I visit Vernon I am over in the BX and I can hear the trucks' jake brakes coming down the hospital hill way over there. I hope and pray a truck never loses its brakes like the one in Kamloops that day. With no brake check, and no runaway lane, anyone or anything at the bottom of that hill is in extreme danger.

At one time there was the idea of making 27th Street a major thruway, taking traffic over a huge bridge at the east end of Polson Park, to the east of the hospital, and cutting through to highway 97 up past the army camp. Did the recent hospital expansion nix that idea?

Maybe since they have the route down hospital hill, up 32 Street through town, past the London Drugs mall, and over the overpass at the end of Swan Lake, all widened and connected in, that will be the route forevermore?

[bob vernon]

20 or 30 years from now, after the routes for a bypass are all built over, people will be on a site like this complaining because the council in 2010 didn't have the foresight to plan for the future. In the summer, it's already bad enough trying to get through town. There should be a bypass. But no politician running for council has the courage to alienate a segment of the city who will be hurt by the bypass. Most of us would benefit from it, though.