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To be clear I'm not proposing a bunch of new expressways, more-so secondary highways that could serve a passable alternatives if Hwy 97 were closed do to natural events such as a floods, fires, or landslides, as well as traffic accidents. Here's my idea:
The secondary highway system could be applied to other areas of the province as well. For numbers, I just picked a random 3di series that's unused, but if it was province wide it would probably be numbered based on it's location of within the province. Thoughts? |
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Has anyone been through Kicking Horse Pass lately? How's the construction coming?
I'm heading that way on Friday. |
^Bobert posted a great photo of the Big Horn Bridge and Lynx Viaduct in the Canada section - check it out.
Safe travels on Friday. |
I just drove through Monday. The first viaduct on the west end of the project area is open and construction is progressing nicely on all the others.
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Speaking of Kicking Horse Canyon
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bc9931db_b.jpg By BC Moti https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranbc...in/dateposted/ |
Looking at this, it will have a nice rhythmic flow to it when its done. Now if we can just get the NP section done. I will not get a chance to see this as we'll be driving the area after the long weekend.
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That slope below looks like it could slide at any given moment. I know it’s obviously reinforced into the rock, but after what we went thru last fall, it just makes you wonder
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You’ll be detoured through Radium. Agreed about getting the last 40kms through Yoho done. |
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If the project was ready for me, we would have hit the TCH on Sat. Also, we will be stopping by the big Cheeto on the way home after. |
I was in Tofino over the long weekend and was surprised how little progress there had been with the Highway 4 Kennedy Hill construction in the past two years. It is still far from being completed and surprisingly little had happened. All the massive rock blasting and dirt removal was already done when I last visited in Nov 2020, but maybe COVID slowed them down?
I think the project has been going on for over four years by now. |
Drove through the Koke last week. look like one more bridge is being replaced and then they are done. Should be all open next year. Otello was close to having all 4 lanes open. Overall the drive from Hope to Banff is a nice drive. the bypass was not overly busy but we hit it between 4 and 7 so mostly transport trucks which were doing a nice 100 k most of the time.
Tsawwassen to Hope was just under 2 hours at Lunch on a Monday. |
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Can’t figure out why the government can’t figure out not to tunnel sections of the trans Canada through the steep and winding sections.the money they put into cranes/engineering and reinforcing Cliffs building bridges and holding up traffic ext.
Tunneling would save on a lot of maintenance such as rock slides avalanche’s and land slides from extreme rains. Other country’s tunnel most why can’t we. I guess we are a 100 years behind. |
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IIRC, there are few tunnels on American interstates crossing the Rockies too. The Scandinavian countries tunnel their roads, but Scandinavian mountains are a lot older so less brittle. They’re like Canadian Shield except more mountainous. I have yet to check the Alp’s geology. Edit: It seems similar to Rocky Mountains as both were formed from collisions. Maybe the countries around the Alps are densely populated so the average cost per person (or even per user if there are tolls) is much lower. It’s a number game that B.C. doesn’t afford to play. |
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Not U/C yet but hopefully it won’t be too too long.
A sad story about twinning through Yoho NP in BC: http://https://globalnews.ca/news/9246369/field-highway-one-fatal-crashes-yoho/ |
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Highway 4's Kennedy Hill getting closer to completion.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d9e2f976_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...54a62c74_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8bbe7cec_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...aa3a4688_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...29a6ab27_b.jpg Photos from BC MOTI https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranbc...57690343841444 |
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New Kicking Horse Pass photos.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3c6a8e53_b.jpgCaribou Wall and Viaduct by B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1888718d_b.jpgWestBound Lanes Taking Shape by B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, on Flickr |
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Yep, posted about that in the Kelowna section...
Kelowna really does get the poop end of the stick for infrastructure investment from the province. An urban area soon to be nearing 300 000 divided by a like that relies on a single crossing... Not many places in the developed world have that situation. |
On the other hand in Kamloops it seems as if the province is at least now considering interchanges on highway 5 at Halston and Shuswap lake road. How far in the future this plan is we have yet to see.
Also looks that under the same program major upgrades to the #1 between the highway 5 junction and Pat Road are at least being studied. Again, what this actually means in the long run we have yet to know. |
4 lanes on Highway 33 from Kelowna to Big White please!
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How can they “not even be close to construction even if given the money today” for the interchanges at Boucherie and Westlake roads? Have these not been in the design phase for nearly a decade now? I think that’s enough time to plan two interchanges. Also curious to how they will approach the elimination of the couplet through downtown Westbank… The sensible approaches would be to tunnel the highway under downtown Westbank followed by the less favorable option of a new free flow bypass around the core. But those are the more big thinking long term solutions that would be done in all other developed countries. I bet what we get is converting either Dobbin Rd. or Main St. into an even busier at grade stroad. At bare minimum the 20 year plan should be upgrading the 97 between the Connector interchange and the bridge into a free flow artery and upgrading the 97 between UBC and the south end of Vernon into a free flowing artery, especially since the far superior second crossing and free flowing relocated 97 via Clement is dead. Sure bookending Kelowna with two free flowing sections of the 97 will cause huge issues for Harvey, but this is the path the province (and city now) have chosen, so may as well demand the best we can get out of that… |
^ Thanks Metro.
I kind of chuckle when I read in that article they are considering adding a 6th lane to the existing Bennett bridge given the criticism of same when it was built. Quote:
Thanks again. |
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Considering the extra cost and maintenance for a tunnel, I don't see why they'd bother looking into that as an option. Quote:
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Like I said more of a fantasy. But think of it as 4 lanes between Hope and Merritt. Not really needed but part of a larger project. 4 lanes across Southern BC as an alternative to Highway 1.
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Alberta’s twinning its portion of Crowsnest Highway. |
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In fact I still have the news clippings from both Castlegar and Kelowna newspapers lol. |
^Interesting - would like to see what the idea was.
I would love to see #3 Crowsnest twinned from Ft. MacLeod west into BC, through or around Cranbrook and on to Curzon, and then 95 to the US border at Kingsgate. Then if the Americans could continue twinning 95 down to Coeur d’Alene we could access I-90 much easier. :yes: Would also be great if they could continue twinning #3 westward through BC to Hope where it joins #1 & #5. And for Christ sake switch the #1 & #5 designations so the TCH is a freeway already. :superwhip: |
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This gives the TCH the freeway route instead of the slower Fraser Canyon, which would make sense given the work being done to upgrade the TCH further east. Highway 5 loses the direct connection to the Lower Mainland but still retains its role as a connection between all three major east-west routes (1/16/3). If desired, one could even consider renaming the entire route along 8/97C/33 as one highway to emphasize the connection between the Cariboo and Kootenay regions. |
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1. Targeted renumbering Try to keep the renumbering to just moving the TCH to the Coquihalla; basically the same as mentioned about with a couple alternatives. I would argue that because BC 5 north of Kamloops is signed as the Yellowhead Hwy and part of an interprovincial corridor between the Lower Mainland and Edmonton, while BC 5A between Kamloops and Princeton is more of a local highway (provided other routes are operational), so it shouldn't revert back to #5 as they have different functions.
2. Larger scale Interior Renumbering IMO, BC 97 artificially connects the US with Alaska as most people who want to travel directly from the Lower 48 to Alaska would not go through the Okanagan. BC routes were renumbered to #97 to adhere to the US route grid (Okanagan used to be BC 5; Cariboo used to be BC 2) and extend it to Alaska, but those travel patterns were superseded by the Interstates. Further to that, Northern BC should have a continuous number to the Lower Mainland.
BC 7 could also have some minimal upgrades between Hope and Vancouver to allow for it to be a viable alternate east-west route. 3. Craziness Not going to happen, but let's really dream big.
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Any thoughts on connecting the extended BC 8 with BC 33 as one number, co-signed with BC 97 through Kelowna? |
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Castlegar to Kelowna via 97 is 4 hours Castlegar to Osoyoos via 97 is 2.5 hours |
The Hwy 4 Kennedy Hill project seems to be near completion.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cb98fb17_b.jpg Lines Painted on Kennedy Hill - BC Highway 4 by B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, on Flickr |
How come no rumble strips.
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