PUBLIC INVITED | Interior Logging Association has equipment on display Friday and Saturday [A5]
Morning gStar
The
Sunday, May 3, 2015
P R O U D L Y
S E R V I N G
O U R
N O R T H
O K A N A G A N
w w w. v e r n o n m o r n i n g s t a r. c o m
C O M M U N I T I E S
F O R
2 5
EXECUTIVES REALTY LTD.
Connected to More® www.century21executives.com 2907 32nd Street, Vernon, BC
Y E A R S
250-549-2103
Stickle proposal draws protest RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
Proposed changes to a dangerous intersection are drawing heavy fire. Most residents and business owners who attended an open house Thursday were opposed to the Ministry of Transportation’s plan to prevent left-hand turns from Stickle Road on to Highway 97. “I think it’s a bunch of BS,” said Bob Tauffenbach, who has lived in the Silver Star RV Park since 1992. “The most common sense is a traffic light.” Serry Massoud, who owns Squires Four Pub, fears the impact of right-in, right-out traffic movements at the intersection. “I depend on the people from the RV park in the summer and they won’t be able to come across the highway,” he said. “People can’t come off the highway for dinner (from the south) and then back on to the highway.” The ministry states that during peak hours, there are 11 to 34 left-turns from the east side of Stickle Road on to the highway, one left-hand turn on the west side and two straight-through movements. Juliette Cunningham, a Vernon councillor, questions the statistics. “Numbers are low on their counts because people avoid (turning left) there,” she said. Ministry figures show there have been three fatalities at the intersection between 2003 and 2012, 18 injuries and 29 cases of property damage. If the plan proceeds, a vehicle on the east side of Stickle Road wanting to go south will have to use Pleasant Valley Road and city roads instead of turning left on to Highway 97. For those on the west side and wanting to travel north, they will
first have to go south into Vernon and make their way over to 27th Street or Pleasant Valley Road to access the highway. “Pleasant Valley Road can’t keep up with all of those semis,” said Pat Loehndorf, general manager of Bannister Honda, which uses large semitrucks to deliver new inventory of vehicles. Loehndorf insists the ministry’s proposal will hurt the economic and future development along the Swan Lake corridor. “I have 27 families in my business and this will impact them. It will be hard for customers to come out there and do business,” he said. That is also the view of Randy James, owner of Vernon Motorsports. “We all rely on customers and if we make it tough for customers, they will find somewhere else to go,” he said. “They (ministry) are not really listening to what people have to say.” The ministry defend the right-in, right-out concept and says a traffic light is not necessary. “It doesn’t meet signal warrants because only five per cent of the traffic makes any turning movements there,” said Rampaul Dulay, project director, adding that 95 per cent of the traffic goes through the intersection on the highway. Dulay says there should be no issues with diverting traffic on to Pleasant Valley Road. “The purpose of a local road is local traffic,” he said. The estimated cost of the right-in, right-out project is $3 million, and a light would add about $400,000 to $500,000. The goal is to tender the work this fall but if there are significant demands for a light, Dulay says engineers will review the option again. “It’s not a done deal,” he said of right-in, rightout.
LISA VANDERVELDE/MORNING STAR
Stickle Road resident Barbara Haselhorst and Pat Loehndorf (centre), general manager and partner of Bannister Honda, speak to Sumit Bhasin (left) and Erik Lachmuth, of the Ministry of Transportation, about their concerns.
Government pumps dollars into Silver Star Road paving The ride up Silver Star Mountain is going to be a little smoother. The Ministry of Transportation will spend $1.4 million repaving 15.4 kilometres of Silver Star Road from the Vernon city boundary to the resort village this summer. Also included is repaving of an additional 3.3 kilometres of residential roads at the resort. “It’s a road that is getting more use and
needs to be upgraded,” said Eric Foster, Vernon-Monashee MLA, of Silver Star Road. “The school bus goes up and down and Silver Star Mountain Resort is getting more summer use. More people are living along the corridor.” Silver Star Mountain Baycroft Resort has been lobbying
LOOKING
FOR A
BANNISTER
for upgrades to the road. “You have this multi-million-dollar resort at the end of 19 kilometres of potholes. We hear about it from guests,” said Brad Baker, the resort’s operations director. “In the past two years, we have had about half-a-dozen complaints about damage to vehicles.” Silver Star Road also earned BCAA’s Worst Road title in 2014. Baker is pleased with the paving work that
car?
RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
is moving ahead. “If I produced a map where the problems are, they seemed to have covered it,” he said. Foster says upgrades to Silver Star Road benefits the economy and tourism. “The resort is an economic driver for the community and it’s getting bigger and better every year,” he said. It’s expected that Okanagan Aggregates, of Armstrong, will have the project completed by Sept. 30.
1988 GRAND MARQUIS
1,000
$
*To be sold for parts only and towed off Bannister GM’S lot
“A Family Business, with Family Values”
25TH
ANNIVERSARY
STOCK #15-271B
4703 27 St, Vernon BC bannisters.com • 250-545-0606
DL#9133