Petition calls for second Kelowna bridge crossing, traffic relief

Everyone who’s sick of the stop-and-go routine along the William R. Bennett Bridge is invited to sign a petition to improve traffic flow in the Central Okanagan.

The petition calls for a second bridge between Kelowna and West Kelowna, an expansion of Westside Road, or a way for Highway 97 traffic to bypass Kelowna altogether.

“The population growth in the Central Okanagan area coupled with tourism makes working and living in the area difficult due to constant traffic jams and endless idling while traveling 4km/h just to cross the three lane bridge,” reads the petition, which was started by Joseph Wadden.

“It’s a bottleneck and needs to be solved and should already have been solved.”

READ MORE: How Westsiders are keeping Kelowna's Bennett bridge 'useable'

The Bennett bridge was designed to handle a capacity of 80,000 vehicles a day when it opened in 2008. This summer, peak travel days exceeded 75,000.

Congestion is further compounded by the number of traffic lights along Highway 97 in the Central Okanagan.

The petition has more than 700 signatures since it was created three days ago.

The Ministry of Transportation told INFOnews.ca it is considering expanding the bridge from five lanes to six, but not a second crossing. 

READ MORE: If you think Bennett Bridge is crowded now, just wait until it actually fills up

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