Bypass in Peachland, a good idea?

[jimsenchuk]

Not justifiable given the current population, not to mention more pressing priorities that could use funding.

Get it done now, cause in 25 yrs it will cost 100 times the amount it would cost too do it now.

[jimsenchuk]

I am very much against this bypass dream. The route that is proposed would be very expensive and as mentioned above, a high mountian route in the winter that would be very expensive to maintain and dangerous to drive on. If any of the proponents of this actually took a walk over the route they would know this. The other thing is that it moves the highway from its current route into the backyards of people that purposely bought property away from the highway.

Just my opinion but I feel that this is just being driven by people that bought property next to the existing highway and now want it moved away from them into someone else's backyard.

I live right beside the highway, would not bother me if they twinned it, they would have to buy me out, no loss on my end, actually i would make alot of money if they come through right beside me.

[Anonymous123]

I am very much against this bypass dream. The route that is proposed would be very expensive and as mentioned above, a high mountian route in the winter that would be very expensive to maintain and dangerous to drive on. If any of the proponents of this actually took a walk over the route they would know this. The other thing is that it moves the highway from its current route into the backyards of people that purposely bought property away from the highway.

Just my opinion but I feel that this is just being driven by people that bought property next to the existing highway and now want it moved away from them into someone else's backyard.

I live right beside the highway, would not bother me if they twinned it, they would have to buy me out, no loss on my end, actually i would make alot of money if they come through right beside me.

Not always Jim. They don't have to buy you out, there is always expropriation.

[jimsenchuk]

Not always Jim. They don't have to buy you out, there is always expropriation

Yes there always is that route for the govt, but i doubt they will go that far imo, you just need good negotiating skills. :)

[Rose Thompson]

Who needs it? Another unnecessary road project that would cost millions. Slow down everybody! It takes like 5 minutes to get through Peachland for God's sake.

[Glacier]

Who needs it? Another unnecessary road project that would cost millions. Slow down everybody! It takes like 5 minutes to get through Peachland for God's sake.

It does today, but in 20 years when traffic has doubled, it might take a lot longer. Then people will be saying, "darn, we should have built a bypass 20 years ago when land was a lot cheaper, and before the houses were built on the land. Now all we can do is add another 4 traffic lights and hope no one loses their breaks coming down that hill like they did in Kamloops, forcing that city's bypass over 50 years ago."

[GordonH]

Who needs it? Another unnecessary road project that would cost millions. Slow down everybody! It takes like 5 minutes to get through Peachland for God's sake.

It does today, but in 20 years when traffic has doubled, it might take a lot longer. Then people will be saying, "darn, we should have built a bypass 20 years ago when land was a lot cheaper, and before the houses were built on the land. Now all we can do is add another 4 traffic lights and hope no one loses their breaks coming down that hill like they did in Kamloops, forcing that city's bypass over 50 years ago."

The whole Okanagan Valley highway system from Sicamous at northern part of the valley to Osoyoos/US border was poorly planned 50+ years ago (especially between Vernon & Peachland). A proper by-pass of all 3 major centre's in the valley would have been a great addition unfortunately that is now 50 years +/- to late. Mainly because of small minded Chamber Of Commerce in each of the major centre's in Okanagan Valley.
Now we have to deal with what we currently have and try to build smarter going forward.

20/20 hindsight sucks, when its really needed.

[Joe Public]

There seems to be some misconception that the government pays a lot when it buys property for roads, it doesn't. You would be lucky to get 10% below assessed value and if you didn't like that, they would build the road regardless to your line and watch your property value drop to less than they offered. Then they would threaten expropriation and offer you the new value. The government hasn't paid above value for property since the Socred days when Socred Ministers would buy up all the property of a new route before it was announced. Flying Phil bought every interchange location along the Coqhihalla before it was announced way back in the 70's.

Aside from that, there are numerous areas in the Valley which need 4 laning long before they would even consider a bypass, unless of course, someone offered to pay for it beside taxpayers, which I doubt. The Chamber of Commerce donates heavily to the BC Liberals in order to be heard on this subject, and they are firmly against any bypasses as they would be detrimental to the strip mall mentality that pervades, and to the developers that donate heavily.

[Steve-O]

Think I disagree with most of what you said Joe P. Business want to be along the side of busy roads for exposure thus; strip malls come up along any hwy such as 97.

Anyways, I still feel the bypass is a great idea. Very few of the vehicles going through Peachland stop, so minimal impact on business. The proposed bypass is not terribly high up so the comments about a high mtn road are unfounded. I have also heard that the Americans want 97 4 laned to help increase flow of traffic as this route has the potential to be a major artery to Alaska. The spin off from that would be the potential for Kelowna. Isn't one of the main disadvantages to manufacturing in Kelowna its distance from major traffic? A bypass may be part of the solution. Think long term and big picture.

[nikonfan]

A bypass in Peachland is a colossal waste of money and in my opinion will never happen. With the money that it would cost I am sure we could twin 97 through Peachland with a frontage road connecting Trepanier, Clements and 13 th with 1 overpass getting rid of those stupid lights that, in summer, cause line ups up Drought hill and still have enough money to to put in an overpass at the absolutely failure at Butt Road. I just don't get the thinking behind bypassing Peachland. The town was built on a highway, what in the hell did you expect? 97 hwy is an abortion of lights, chaotic speed limits from 50 to 90km per hour stop and go traffic that is impending the movement of people and commerce.
The idiots that keep saying just slow down it only a few minutes longer are out to lunch. Some of us run businesses and every extra minute on that inadequate highway costs us and then eventually you more.
97 need to be a freeway from the Vernon to the border with frontage roads and overpasses. Westbank needs to be some how bypassed, nothing much left there anymore anyway. I dream of the day when we will be able to from the Vernon to the border at 100 km per hour......but I know it will only be a dream. I am sure we are going to be driving in this mess the rest of our lives, stop and go, road nazis who hog the left lane and have no clue what the speed limit is, people who have no clue how much it costs to keep a truck on the road to get their goods shipped to them and the amount of time we sit at lights and behind idiot drivers and no way to pass them, people who CANT drive down Drought Hill faster then 60 km per hour and then race through the 70 section at 100k. ( usually Alberta plates and old guys in hats who can't do corners)
If you can not go down drought hill at 90 kph on a sunny clear day you are obviously not a competent driver and should really hand in your keys. That would be in a perfect world, but in a perfect world we wouldn't have dumb politians either.

[Joe Public]

Steve-O...

Can you tell us why you think a Peachland bypass is such a good idea? What am I missing here? As I see it, Peachland already has a bypass and it's called Rte 97. Everyone will agree that Rte 97 needs to be 4 laned from the US border to the connection with Rte 1 in Sicamous, and using the existing route will be much less expensive for taxpayers than a new route. I would suggest that 4 laning the existing route would be $70m whereas a new route would be $250m and I'm interested in your rationale on why taxpayers should pay an extra $180m to get from the same point A to the same point B? And if it did happen, the old Rte 97 would be also turned over to the municipality which means that they would pay all maintenance and rehabilitation costs, as Oyama now does for Pamplewash Road.

To be more to the point; do you think that Peachland taxpayers should pay an additional $5000 per year in taxes for the rest of their lives to accomplish this?

[Glacier]

Using that argument, it was much cheaper to 4 lane the highway from Aspen Grove to Merritt than to make a new road bypassing Merritt, but some of the same people dissing the Peachland bypass supported the more expensive option.

People wonder why businesses in the Okanagan are having a hard time competing with places that have 100+ km/h roads leading to markets when the average speed down hwy 97 in the Okanagan is only 65 km/h. We talk about 100km/h route to the U.S. border, but never think about how much money this would cost. Other jurisdictions do it the proper way, but we are using 1950s thinking instead. We think, "hey let's just 4-lane the existing route instead." News flash: cheaper in the beginning isn't always cheaper in the long run. Actually, it hardly ever is. Vernon and Kelowna said no to a bypass. Everyone today says these were hairbrained ideas. Westbank is saying no to a bypass, and this is starting look hairbrained as well, If Peachland says no to the bypass, it might look like the right move now, but in 50 years when Peachland starts looking like Vernon in population people will be shaking their heads wondering why the decision makers of 2014 were so shortsighted.

[Joe Public]

The Coquihalla bypass that excluded Merrit and a Peachland Bypass are two different creatures. The Coquhalla bypass would have cut 25 minutes off the trip from Kelowna to Vancouver, but it would have bypassed Merritt which has built a strong business out of being that stop on the way to Vancouver. Once again, a business decision made for personal economic reasons and it didn't hurt that the Minister of Transportation at the time was from Merrit. A Peachland Bypass is just a rerouted road covering the same corridor at a considerably increased cost to taxpayers and I still don't see any merit in it.

Quite honestly, no one can afford to plan for 50 years in the future. The current government can't pay to maintain the roads that it has now, let alone buying and building for the future. The government is selling land, not buying it, just to balance the budget, and unless they make the extremely popular decision to raise taxes significantly, I doubt that the 4 laning of the existing corridor will happen in the next decade or two. We can not afford to pay for the infrastructure we have now.

My prediction for 50 years from now is that Rte 97 will be 4 laned, there will be 50 more traffic signals on Rte 97 as both residential and strip mall development creeps out of the cities, and that will be it. There will be no more new roads built as government and taxpayers grapple to maintain what we have now.

[Steve-O]

Steve-O...

Can you tell us why you think a Peachland bypass is such a good idea? What am I missing here? As I see it, Peachland already has a bypass and it's called Rte 97. Everyone will agree that Rte 97 needs to be 4 laned from the US border to the connection with Rte 1 in Sicamous, and using the existing route will be much less expensive for taxpayers than a new route. I would suggest that 4 laning the existing route would be $70m whereas a new route would be $250m and I'm interested in your rationale on why taxpayers should pay an extra $180m to get from the same point A to the same point B? And if it did happen, the old Rte 97 would be also turned over to the municipality which means that they would pay all maintenance and rehabilitation costs, as Oyama now does for Pamplewash Road.

To be more to the point; do you think that Peachland taxpayers should pay an additional $5000 per year in taxes for the rest of their lives to accomplish this?

To reiterate: This bypass becomes part of a high speed corridor from the border to Alaska, potentially opening a door for Kelowna business/manufacturing. This means it hooks up with the Connector. Doesn't help with 97's issues from Vernon to Peachland. As you point out, 97 goes through the middle of Peachland and there will be more lights added if traffic continues to build. It is progressive thinking and looks to the future. My humble opinion is it is good thinking. Sadly, Joe, your prediction will likely be the case in 50 years and that's a shame.

[Glacier]

To reiterate: This bypass becomes part of a high speed corridor from the border to Alaska, potentially opening a door for Kelowna business/manufacturing. This means it hooks up with the Connector. Doesn't help with 97's issues from Vernon to Peachland. As you point out, 97 goes through the middle of Peachland and there will be more lights added if traffic continues to build. It is progressive thinking and looks to the future. My humble opinion is it is good thinking. Sadly, Joe, your prediction will likely be the case in 50 years and that's a shame.

I've done the trip from Kamloops to Osoyoos a hundred times. Only made the mistake of going the Connector route once. After that, I went back to the tried and true 5a to Princeton, and 3 on to Osoyoos. My best time from Kamloops via Princeton to Osyoos was 2 hours and 45 minutes, and this was before 5a was 4-laned into Merritt. 97 would have to be turned into a 100 to 110 km/hour freeway from Osoyoos to Peachland if it wanted to have a chance of competing with the alternative route.