By Armchair Mayor

Get used to that bottleneck on the Connector – forever

Mar 28, 2018 | 5:10 AM

KAMLOOPS — Every time I drive up or down the Summit Connector and negotiate that bottleneck at the hairpin turn, I dream of the Singh Street Bridge.

I guess I can stop dreaming. The bridge is suddenly gone from the Kamloops transportation master plan, relegated not just to the back burners, but right out of the kitchen.

As of Tuesday, it’s been dispensed with in favour of a possible crossing further west, with no timeline at all.

The Singh Street crossing, for decades cemented into city planning like a steel re-inforced concrete pylon, was supposed to come about when the population of Kamloops hit the magical threshold of 120,000 residents. Just 30,000 people and about 15 years to go.

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But suddenly, it’s yesterday’s idea.

According to a new plan that will be digested by City council over the next few weeks before it’s adopted, the Singh Street bridge is no longer relevant.

Not dead, exactly, just put into cryogenic hibernation, like one of those spaceship movie characters.

Now, it’s all about walking and cycling, multi-use pathways and buses. Getting people out of their cars is a good idea, but cars will always be needed, and that includes another crossing of the Thompson River.

Let’s do a study on another location, says the plan.

Well, there was nothing wrong with the old plan. The reason for that hairpin turn on the Connector is that it was supposed to eventually become a new intersection that would include a road down the hill and across the river to a new Singh Street Bridge.

Even though that bridge would be fully used if it existed now — ask any North-South commuter — putting it off until the 120,000 population was reached has always been a convenient way of not having to pay for it any time soon.

And now, it will be put off even longer, if not forever. So every time we wheel around that hairpin bottleneck as if we’re in one of those circus rides, we can now only think about what might have been, instead of what will be.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.