Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

ELECTION 2020

Kamloops B.C. Liberal candidates promise $106M investment for Interior roads

Oct 9, 2020 | 4:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — Local B.C. Liberal candidates Todd Stone and Peter Milobar have announced investments in Interior specific road projects should they form government after the provincial election.

The $106 million worth of improvements include the four-laning of the Trans Canada Highway near Chase and passing lanes along the Highway 5 North corridor.

Work has restarted on the four-laning project near Chase. In May, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced the project would resume in hopes of boosting the economy.

The B.C. Liberals say the project never should have stopped.

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Kamloops-South Thompson B.C. Liberal candidate Todd Stone says the costs related to construction increased by $61 million, but the scope of the project is smaller. He says a Liberal government would rework the project to see a promised investment of $75 million go further.

“We will be putting back into the schedule, back into the construction plan the five-kilometre segment of the Trans Canada Highway that the NDP have taken out,” Stone said. “It is the five-kilometre segment that predominantly goes through the Neskonlith reserve lands. We will be putting that project back into the construction calendar and ensure that that project is built in a timely fashion. And secondly, we will scrap the NDP’s union-only community benefit agreements framework.”

Kamloops-South Thompson NDP candidate Anna Thomas argues the community benefit agreements set up under the NDP government are providing much-needed jobs in smaller communities.

“It helps those smaller community members, like out in Chase, that are unable to travel,” she said. “It brings money not only in for their families, but their communities. The training, in specific, also helps Indigenous women and Indigenous people.”

Kamloops-North Thompson B.C. Liberal candidate Peter Milobar says a B.C. Liberal government will invest $30 million to construct three passing lanes on Highway 5 North between Kamloops and Blue River over the next three years. He also promises an investment of $1 million to rebuild Clearwater River Road, which was washed out in July.

“The Clearwater River Road is one of two roads within Wells Gray Park, but it’s the main road that all the whitewater rafting companies use to be able to get their clients to the area the rafters would like to go, the reason people seek out that area,” Milobar said. “Rafting in the Clearwater area is one of the biggest tourist draws in Clearwater. It’s a huge economic benefit to the region.”