(Image credit: Mel Rothenburger).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Westsyde Road project is a good start but there’s a long way to go

Mar 23, 2023 | 5:05 AM

GOT A CARD in the mail this week informing me that work is about to start on a new multi-use pathway along Westsyde Road between Batchelor Drive and Westmount Drive. The work will be completed in early June.

I assume I received it because of my mailing address — I pass through that section of Westsyde Road every time I commute to town. Over the years I’ve observed a lot of bad behaviour on that road, and I have a few suggestions.

The project mentioned on the card is only a couple of blocks long but it’s a good project. It will include new pathway lighting, markings and widened bus-stop areas. But much more needs to be done on Westsyde Road all the way to Westsyde elementary on the north end of the community and beyond.

Improvements have certainly been made to lighting and crosswalks. Tragic pedestrian-vehicle accidents were once a common occurrence but are now rare and the City is to be commended.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Kamloops' Trusted Property Manager - Rohit Kumar

May 20, 2025

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: June 19, 2025

7h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Potential water issue is no joke

15h ago

However, drivers still interpret the 60 km/h speed limit as meaning 80, making the road dangerous for cyclists, who take their life in their hands. More enforcement would make a difference.

While the new project will extend the multi-use pathway already in place at the south end of Westsyde, that pathway soon peters out into a regular pedestrian sidewalk, and then disappears altogether.

What’s needed here is a co-operative venture between the City and the provincial government to build a proper multi-use pathway all the way out to the shopping centre and connect it to a bicycle lane running to the City limits at Jensen’s Island and continuing north into provincial jurisdiction.

(Image credit: Mel Rothenburger).

Westsyde Road is highly popular with recreational cyclists, but the shoulders are so narrow in parts of it that it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

So, the City’s new project is a great start, but a reminder of how far — literally — we’ve got to go.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, alternate TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

——

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.