Ihad the pleasure this summer of traveling to the Okanagan; it was absolutely amazing, the road construction that had taken place since our last visit. We took the connector over to highway 97 to Summerland. The traffic moved quickly, without any apparent long slow lineups. A trip to Kelowna to a wedding gave us the privilege of crossing the new twinning expansion of the floating bridge on Okanagan Lake.
We also made a trip to a family reunion in Gibsons. Wow, that Sea to Sky – I for one think it should be on the list of good things accomplished over the past 10 years. Travel was no longer at a snails pace vehicles were moving quickly and easily. My only complaint was at times the speed limit was 70, 80 then 90 – when I felt it could have been 90 the whole time. The four laning improvements from Cache Creek to Quesnel have made a difference in travel. Of course we have heard complaints about the major investment to improve the Port Mann Bridge (gawd).
Have you ever made a trip to the coast, all of a sudden you get to Surrey – even on a Sunday afternoon and the traffic is almost at a stand still crossing the Port Mann Bridge. Believe me I know for the past 20 + years we have needed the truck route in Quesnel, we still do.
My thoughts, perhaps we complain when construction is taking place elsewhere, yet every time we drive to the coast, the Okanagan or even Williams Lake, we become those same tourists that even we rely on to increase economic development.
Interesting isn’t it, even though I have written about infrastructure – I had not considered the impact we have. Every major highway in B.C. is owned by us the people, not government. I suppose the people that live in the Lower Mainland wouldn’t have nearly the traffic, nor require so many highway improvements if we didn’t need to transport goods from the coast to the interior and vice versa. Something to consider when next we complain about how government spends money elsewhere.
Mary Glassford is a former CRD director and community advocate.