New proposals for truck routes
Editor: West Kelowna mayor and city councillors:
According to you, as quoted in The Daily Courier and Westside Weekly, the city has not consulted with the trucking industry, businesses or residents affected by truck routes.
Instead it proposed a system of ‘truck routes” because other cities have them.
Under the highways legislation and regulations, trucks are required to follow “truck routes” closest to their destinations, use necessary undesignated roads to the destination, and then depart in a similar way. In West Kelowna at least 80 per cent of non-agricultural truck destinations are within four blocks of Highway 97 or are using WFN roadways in conjunction with city roads.
The proposed routes all have such obvious issues that only a consultant who had never been on the roads in the city could have recommended them. Examples:
• Gellatly Road South. Steep hill, sharp narrow 90 degree corners, many tourists, congested parking, playgrounds, bike paths, boat launch, planned tourist amenities area and steep hill back off it.
• Boucherie Road. Starting in 2018 it has a five-year reconstruction program. It’s a designated scenic tourist wine route with steep hills in and out and sharp narrow corners and road.
• Hudson Road to Boucherie. Only serves to bring trucks to Boucherie Road; already discredited as a truck route.
• Old Okanagan Road and Shannon Lake Road. Already the second busiest road in the city. Presently serves only as a residential collector road for thousands of residents. It has only three possible truck destinations: the RDCO refuse transfer, Shannon Lake store and bar, and the golf course.
To draw heavy tandem tractor trailers loaded with logs, dangerous goods and other commercial products bound for Kelowna or Penticton, off Highway 97 through a residential district with school bus and B.C. transit stops is one definition of insanity.
• That leaves only Stevens, Westlake, and Bartley Roads to Highway 97, all within 2 blocks of Highway 97. Already heavily centered on truck traffic, as this is a commercial and industrial district, and all roads in it are subject to heavy truck and car traffic with all connecting roads therein being used daily as originating or destination points. A simple solution 1. Vote the motion down on second reading. 2. Replace it by designating High-way 97 the only “truck route” within city boundaries, letting existing provincial highway regulations govern truck movements on and off it.
3. Direct bylaw officers to monitor truck traffic outside of the four block area off of Highway 97 for infractions. Benefits 1. Stop the high expenditure on consultants, 2. Stop the costs of extensive public hearings; you already have public reaction saying no to the proposal.
3. Minimizes interference in business operations,
4. Eliminates another costly regulatory drafting of legislation that has no established need.
5. Stops administration from wasting time on non-issues, allowing them to focus on designing better streets, sidewalks, bike paths, and effective street lighting, all of which need attention.
Doug Waines, West Kelowna