Province already considered popular suggestions to fix Kelowna bridge traffic

You’ve likely discussed possible solutions to the traffic problems around the Bennett bridge in Kelowna with friends and family and it turns out ideas to deal with the issues are getting some recent traction online thanks to a petition being shared around.

An online petition with four suggestions for fixing traffic flow around the bridge has around 1,200 signatures so far, and some of its suggestions have already been considered or tested by the Ministry of Transportation. 

It’s fair to assume that the City of Kelowna would be in charge of Harvey Avenue, but since it’s still Highway 97 the road is under the Ministry of Transportation’s jurisdiction. 

Some of the suggested solutions have already been considered or attempted by the Ministry of Transportation.

The first suggestion in the petition is to change the traffic light timing at Abbott Street and Gordon Drive with “modern traffic tech and better signal timing.”

The Ministry of Transportation had the same idea last year. In May 2024, the province tested out some new traffic light technology that was meant to keep lights green on Harvey Avenue when no cars were trying to cross. 

Officials realized quickly that it just wasn’t working the way it was intended to. The traffic light changes made traffic worse, so the light timing went back to the way it was. 

The ministry said it wasn’t going to give up on the plan to improve light signal timing on Harvey, it just needed to figure out a better way to do it.

The petition also wants to put an alternating direction lane, also called a counterflow lane, on the bridge itself.

A counterflow lane for the bridge has been under consideration since 2016 and it’s in the 2023 Central Okanagan transportation strategy report. The idea would be to have the counterflow lane start around 90 metres before Abbott Street and run all the way to Westside Road. 

The province would want to include a movable “zipper” barrier and lights to help the lane’s direction alternate safely. The ministry decided that a counterflow lane wouldn’t provide as much benefit as widening the bridge, which was listed as the top priority for bridge improvements in the 2023 report.

Counterflow lanes are already in place in the Lower Mainland including the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver and the George Massey Tunnel between Richmond and Delta. 

The next suggestion on the petition is to get rid of left turns onto Abbott Street for cars coming northeast off the bridge. 

There are already restrictions on turning at Abbott Street and Harvey Avenue. There are no lefts onto Harvey from Abbott, or from Water Street. 

The petition’s final suggestion is to get rid of the median between Abbott Street and Gordon Drive to make space for another lane.

The median removal isn’t prioritized in any of the hundreds of pages of transportation planning. The ministry wasn’t able to answer the question promptly as to whether they have considered it at all.