Image Credit: City of Kamloops

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Traffic changes: A mixed blessing

Apr 3, 2022 | 6:48 AM

I’VE BEEN HERE a long time. Seen a lot of changes. I remember some of the early traffic patterns and how they’ve changed.

One of the earliest was the Peterson Creek bypass, which, in its original form, was a great idea before it was botched by politics.

This week, Kamloops City Council debated two measures that could have a big impact on traffic flow.

One of the changes would be to try and resolve the ever-present rush-hour bottleneck at the south end of the Overlanders Bridge. Lineups of people coming down Summit Drive trying to get onto the bridge, coupled with the traffic coming from West Victoria Street.

Council years ago put a stoplight in so the Summit traffic at least had a chance to move onto the bridge. It helped, but only a bit.

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Now council is going to shut down the right-hand lane on West Victoria Street just before the bridge to allow Summit traffic onto the bridge with no slowdowns.

That is great news but it creates another problem all its own. It means traffic on West Victoria Street will have to merge at a critical spot. It could mean slowdowns for traffic wanting to head to Mission Flats or up the Connector.

Didn’t we learn a couple of years ago that merging is not a great option when we were repairing the other end of the bridge?

And coupled with the nightmare at 1st and Victoria, it’s just another reason not to head into the downtown.

The other major project discussed this week was another crossing of the Thompson River.

Years ago, the plan was to build a crossing that would link the Summit Connector and Singh Street in Brocklehurst. That’s the reason the ugly, dangerous hairpin turn exists on the Connector.

Most of the traffic was supposed to go down to the new bridge and a much smaller flow was to veer off towards the Overlanders.

That idea was scrapped in 2018, but the hairpin is still there, apparently forever. Because the City wants a new bridge to link up further to the West, coming across near the airport. Preliminary research suggests it’s a logical move, but won’t happen for 30-40 years, when we are close to having a population close to 130,000.

Let’s hope before we build any more hairpin corners, we’re sure that’s where we want to go.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.