By Bruce Walkinshaw

All roads to Kelowna do not necessary lead through Highway 97.

Though it kind of felt that way last year when the highway was shut down due to rock slides, $375,000 in road upgrade projects funded by the provincial government are about to provide more accessible routes north.

“The majority of the money in the Penticton-Summerland area went towards work on the Peachland Trout system that was used when Highway 97 was closed last year,” explained Cheekwan Ho, representative for the Ministry of Forests and Range.

“Brushing, re-establishing sight lines, re-surfacing and grading were all part of the work done to maintain and improve public safety on the route.”

Last October, production blasts designed to dislodge rock face along Highway 97 caused rock slides, shutting down for over two weeks the roadway used by an estimated 14,000 motorists a day. The ensuing traffic chaos led motorists to the back country, charting their own courses through service roads and rough terrain, despite Ministry of Transportation warnings that conditions may not be safe.

According to Ho, some of the $375,000 upgrade money was designated for work on Little White, Sugar Lake, 201, North Fork, Peachland and Sunset Lake roads.

 “Between $15,000 and $30,000 is also being spent on the Sunset Bridge to replace the wooden bridge deck with a new concrete panel deck,” she reported.

Ho said that the work is expected to be complete sometime this week.

The projects are part of a larger provincial $20 million program to fund the upgrading of over 200 roads in about 70 rural communities throughout the province.

“For many rural communities, forest service roads are a vital part of the local road network,” explained Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell of B.C.’s 55,000 km of forest service roads, bigger than the provincial highway system.

“We’ve already spent $14 million since we started work this spring and we’re well on our way to meeting our $20 million commitment by the end of the fiscal year.”

city@pentictonwesternnews.com