Left turn signals are coming

[dodgerdodge]

Understanding how long the line of traffic takes to get from Boucherie (or bridge hill sometimes) to Hudson Rd, it should be accepted that people waiting @ the lights on Hudson/Westlake can wait an extra few minutes to allow the highway an extra minute or two of flowing traffic.

It takes a while for traffic to get up to speed after stopping at Hudson intersection... just another 20-30 seconds of green light could improve traffic IMMENSELY.


Next time you're waiting in the lineup at Hudson, count the seconds that the light stays green for... It's not very long.

You cannot possibly be serious about the comment "Husdon/Westlake can wait an extra few minutes"
At peak times the traffic can be backed up to Stevens road. There is a large industrial area and all the gravel trucks use Westlake, there is a bus stop, a busy tire dealership, 2 gyms, a huge storage yard, Rose Valley school, a new school coming, West Kelowna Estates subdivision and Rose Valley sub division to name a few and all of these generate traffic. I have personally sat in the line up on Westlake and waited 4 light changes before i got through and you suggest an extra few minutes per light change is ok!!!
Don't forget that the wait times on the highway will be worse still when they install the Bartley lights as there will be left turn lights for traffic getting onto the highway as well as getting off. This is also a plan for Westlake Hudson apparently in time to come.

[GoStumpy]

You cannot possibly be serious about the comment "Husdon/Westlake can wait an extra few minutes"
At peak times the traffic can be backed up to Stevens road. There is a large industrial area and all the gravel trucks use Westlake, there is a bus stop, a busy tire dealership, 2 gyms, a huge storage yard, Rose Valley school, a new school coming, West Kelowna Estates subdivision and Rose Valley sub division to name a few and all of these generate traffic. I have personally sat in the line up on Westlake and waited 4 light changes before i got through and you suggest an extra few minutes per light change is ok!!!

Perhaps you should use a different intersection? The highway traffic does not have alternate options, Hudson/Westlake have Ross Rd, Bartley Rd, Westlake Rd, and even Horizon Drive if you're heading to Kelowna...

[edwardv]

The problem is not the traffic lights or the left hand turn signals, it is the business community in this province that continues to *bleep* and complain every time someone suggests building a highway around a town. The end result is slow moving traffic through the middle of every town in the province.

The best example of this is coming to Canada from the US through Surrey. Going from a freeway to traffic lights in the middle of a town...

But hey someone might loose a sale, so its worth making everyone have a crappy drive.

[kumazatheef]

The problem is not the traffic lights or the left hand turn signals, it is the business community in this province ...

One could make a case for the fact it's the short-sightedness of city/urban planners. At least someone back in the day had the forethought to put frontage roads through parts of West Kelowna. Of course, if we didn't have all these silly mountains it would be easier to do build things out.

[dodgerdodge]

You cannot possibly be serious about the comment "Husdon/Westlake can wait an extra few minutes"
At peak times the traffic can be backed up to Stevens road. There is a large industrial area and all the gravel trucks use Westlake, there is a bus stop, a busy tire dealership, 2 gyms, a huge storage yard, Rose Valley school, a new school coming, West Kelowna Estates subdivision and Rose Valley sub division to name a few and all of these generate traffic. I have personally sat in the line up on Westlake and waited 4 light changes before i got through and you suggest an extra few minutes per light change is ok!!!

Perhaps you should use a different intersection? The highway traffic does not have alternate options, Hudson/Westlake have Ross Rd, Bartley Rd, Westlake Rd, and even Horizon Drive if you're heading to Kelowna...

So tell me why do all the gravel trucks use Westlake and not Ross or Bartley? Its the sensible option without going back on yourself if you are heading into Kelowna. I headed up the hill once towards Rose Valley elementary so i could either use Horizon or Bear creek. The traffic heading up to the school was a joke as they have kids doing the crosswalk stop/go signs by the school, it was backed up past Horizon and took an age to get through and of course all the vehicles trying to turn into the school and get out again just made it a bad choice.
What options are there for all the heavy commercial vehicles? Its an industrial area after all with large semis and dumper trucks using it all day long. My point was not really to highlight my problem but highlight the general problem faced by all traffic using Westlake during peak times

[Glacier]

One could make a case for the fact it's the short-sightedness of city/urban planners. At least someone back in the day had the forethought to put frontage roads through parts of West Kelowna. Of course, if we didn't have all these silly mountains it would be easier to do build things out.

You would have a case if it weren't for the fact that BC builds the highways right through the middle of towns in the flattest parts of BC as well (Fort St John, Prince George, Quesnel, etc.)

I agree 100% with edwardv. Hwy 97 is the by far the longest highway in BC, and yet it does its darndest to make you stop at every single town along the way. I've driven the entire 2000 km length, and believe me, I didn't have time to stop in every single town!

The highway through 150 Mile house (10 miles south of Williams Lake) was recently widened to 4 lanes. The town is not very big, and as you can see, very easy to bypass. But no, they would rather move heritage buildings and water lines (at great expense), and degrade elementary school air quality just to appease a couple of businesses. It wouldn't be so bad, except they do the exact same thing with every single town along the highway. Kamloops is the only exception on the entire 2,000 km highway. I suppose you can also count Penticton, but they have let this bypass (if you call it that) morph into some resembling a regular street today, so maybe not. ETA: I just remembered that Dawson Creek has a bypass of sorts.

On the flat plateau south of 100 Mile House they were widening a section from 2 lanes to 4 in August. We are talking about a very rural place with no houses anywhere close to the highway. The existing highway is already straight as an arrow, so you'd think they would simply build another two lanes 10 feet away (like they would anywhere else in the industrialized world), but no, they were adding one lane to each side of the road instead, causing 20 minute traffic delays. Sames goes for the new section of hwy 97 between Westwold and Falkland done the year before.