Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater (left) and Rampaul Dulay, the provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry’s project manager for the Osoyoos Lake passing lanes project on Hwy. 97 north of Osoyoos, unveil a plan at the side of the highway on Nov. 12 to build a hike-and-bike trail along the two-kilometre stretch of passing lanes being constructed between Graveyard Hill and Dead Man’s Lake. Photo by Tasleem Mawji - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 17, 2010
By Tasleem Mawji – Osoyoos Times
The highway improvement project on Hwy. 97 north of Osoyoos will now include a two-kilometre hike-and-bike trail that will be ready for use by the summer.
The trail will be about 10 kilometres away from Osoyoos – connecting the north side of Road 22 and the south side of 204th Avenue.
It will be three metres wide and six metres away from the road on the east side of the highway.
“By separating the hike and bike trail from the highway, outdoor enthusiasts can better enjoy the scenery and heritage that the Okanagan is known for,” said Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater, adding that the initial plan was to build a two-metre-wide path on each side of the highway.
“We all live here. We want to hike and bike, and ideally you would be able to go right from the border to Penticton on these trails. It’s good for tourism; it’s good for health. People want to be active but they want to be safe too,” he said.
Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells has also voiced a desire for trails that go across Osoyoos and that would eventually connect to the neighbouring communities of Oliver and Penticton.
When announcing the passing lanes project earlier this year, the provincial Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry planned to only build the trail part of the way between Road 22 and 204th Avenue.
At an information session on the highway expansion project in March, Wells said such a plan was “completely unacceptable” and asked why the ministry would not build a trail along the whole corridor.
“Why on earth, when they are there with the equipment and the fill, would they not create that trail?” he asked.
Slater said the new trail will use material from the highway work and will cost the province an additional $1 million.
He said there are many provincial programs that subsidize trail extensions and these projects should be partnerships between municipalities, regional districts and the province.
“It’s up to the communities to say ‘we’re going to partner on this,’” he said, “because (the money) can’t all come from the provincial government. Part of it has got to come from the municipalities and regional districts.”
Slater said there are other issues when trying to build long trails, such as private property owners and the cost associated with buying land or compensating owners for running a public trail through their property.
“There’s some private property at the end of this trail right now and the old Kettle Valley Railway right-of-way, and we’re trying to work out those kinds of details so we can extend it all the way to Osoyoos,” he said.
“It’s not just the dirt or the compaction of the dirt; it’s all the rest of it as well.”
Bill Johnston of the Okanagan-Similkameen Parks Society was also in attendance when the trail project was announced with a presentation at the side of the highway on the afternoon of Nov. 12.
He said that building trails hand-in-hand with highway improvement projects has been in the ministry policy handbook since 2000, but is not often adhered to and the policy “uses weasel words like ‘when cost allows.’”
Johnston said he was happy with the new project.
“John Slater carries a big hammer,” he said.
Slater said Ducks Unlimited, the organization that owns property adjacent to the trail, has been supportive of the current project and that environmental impacts have been taken into consideration.
“The tiger salamanders and the painted turtles are all protected under this project. We have five culverts that allow the animals and critters to be safe under this trail as well.”
The highway improvement project includes the building of four new lanes between Graveyard Hill and Dead Man’s Lake and the project has been controversial.
Issues raised by local leaders were the potential for more car accidents through new passing lanes, the possibility of adverse environmental effects and that the $8 million could be better spent elsewhere.
And, because the existing highway parallel to the passing lanes is being turned into a frontage road, the owners of fruit stands in the area have expressed concerns that it will be difficult for passing motorists to reach their businesses.
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