Peachland bypass could result from new traffic study

PEACHLAND – What to do with the highway through Peachland is the question a new provincial traffic study hopes to answer.

The government plans a two-year study to run parallel to the one already underway examining traffic in the Central Okanagan and the need for a second crossing, Transportation Minister Todd Stone announced in a press release today, Dec. 15.

Stone said the Peachland study will look at possible alternate alignments for Highway 97 and will use technical data gleaned from the study into the need for a second bridge crossing of Okanagan Lake.

A public consultation will begin spring 2016, according to the press release.

To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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