Paving projects underway, as regional directors prepare to make request for road improvements

PENTICTON – Highway and local road improvements are underway in the South Okanagan this week, threatening to steal the thunder from regional district directors' preparations to raise the issue of road conditions at the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities convention.

The road improvements are well-timed, as local road improvements were a hot topic on the agenda of last week’s Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board meeting.

In a list of issues the board plans to bring to provincial ministers at the next Union of B.C. Municipalities, which takes place in Vancouver Sept. 25-29, the board is pushing the province for more road maintenance in the regional district, calling the quality of rural roads in the district "a source of constant complaint" from residents.

Board members also plan to meet with Ministry of Transportation officials to request additional funding and resources for the region’s rural roads. Directors are expected to bring forward concerns about rural road and ditch maintenance, road vegetation maintenance, gravel road maintenance and highway road improvements as well at the convention.

Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Public Affairs Officer Leanne Flood says a resurfacing project is currently underway south of Penticton that will see sections of Highway 97 repaved, from White Lake Road to Larch Avenue in Kaleden, and on Highway 3A from Twin Lakes Road to the intersection of Highway 97.

Flood says shoulder widening will also be done on Highway 3A to create a 1.5 metre shoulder, for improved cyclist safety.

More than 32 kilometres of local side roads are also being resurfaced, including:

• 1.3 km of Twin Lakes Road
• 9.4 km of White Lake Road
• 18.7 km of Willowbrook Road
• 2.6 km of Fairview Road

The paving projects are expected to wrap up in November.

Flood says no immediate plans are in the books to upgrade the intersection at Highway 3A and Highway 97. She says the ministry will continue to monitor the intersection and make improvements as funding permits.

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