Ya they actually had a vote and the locals chose "West Kelowna". I guess they were going with the "West Vancouver" model??

Random out outburst?

And if they build a freeway through/around Vancouver and all the way up to Sicamous, I wonder if it'll be faster than going through Kamloops?

According to Google maps, it take half an hour longer to go through Kelowna. I'm guessing a freeway through the Okanagan would more than save that half an hour.

If you are leaving Vancouver and continuing on the #1 east of Kamloops, there's no reason you'd take the connector.

With the Wood lake section of 97 twinned, I think that really asside for a few stretches around Peachland and North of Osooyos the highway is pretty good.

Don't like the idea of a Vernon bypass, and I think they will eventually build the viaduct over Polson Park and make 27th st the northbound lanes of 97 and 32nd st the southbound.

It'll be fun to see how things are shaping up in BC.. I am about to take my annual summer road trip.. Edmonton -> Creston (via Cowboy trail & Crowsnest) -> Nelson (via 3A) -> Vernon (via 6) -> Vancouver (via 97C) -> Lone Butte/ Bridge Lake (via 1/97/ 24) -> Edmonton (via 5/16) About 5000k's worth

Lots of twinning happening on the 97 heading north before hitting the 24, potentially expect delays if heading that way.

^ good to know.. thanks for the tip! Luckily I am in no rush and the beers will still be cold when I get to the cabin at Bridge :cheers:

No problem, I go that way often because my parents have a place near Interlakes. The Cariboo is definitely BC's answer to Ontario's cottage country.

^ It's funny, I spent 25 years in BC and never went up that way. Then in '06 my dad retired and bought the place on Bridge. I was pretty amazed at the country up there... it's been really neat watching Interlakes grow over the past 6-7 years from basically nothing.. Just wish that they'd left the Fish-On pub alone

.

Definitly need Fedral help for the TCH through BC.
Ironically the worst portions of the highway are in Glacier & Revelstoke National Parks. Terrible road surface and stretches with no lines painted on the road.

I know my parents were so happy when Rona opened up.

Don't need lines, law of the sea applies... Stick to the right and yield to larger vehicles. You'll be fine! :cheers:

Seems like a "douchebaggy" Vancouverite is commenting here. One who likely thinks the only important roads are in Vancouver. There is no need to resort to name calling (even though I returned the favor). It's pretty obvious by the press how isolationist BC is becoming - especially towards Canada. I don't like it one bit since I love BC. And I know interior BC politicians don't like it either. My trucker friend in Sicamous absolutely hates the highway (a motorcycle recently ran into his truck - the guy is in bad shape)

Lol, I've driven a lot of third world roads lately - in some very out of the way countries and YES - BC does have 3rd world roads. Often worse than 3rd world in some areas. (cough khc cough) Give me a break here. The trans-canada highway in most of BC, except for the last few years was ignored by BC since it opened in the 1950's. They're twinning the highway in Tanzania and repaving in Zimbabwe to crying out loud. Madagascar was smooth clear sailing (although scarily narrow). Russia - isn't 3rd world (I may be wrong on that, but they're 2nd world).

Most of the bridge replacements are because the bridges have reached the end of their 50 year lifespan. The BC government freely admits they were sometimes not even built to 1950's standards. And they freely point out how dangerous the roads are that they're fixing. Check out the website. They include death statistics and mention it as a reason for upgrading.

I'm not talking about every road in BC. Some are nice. Some are awful - which you'll find in pretty much every area of the world. But I'm complaining about the #1 highway in Canada. The highway the BC transportation website refers to as Main Street Canada. The main link to the rest of the country if you will. Personally, the KHC is cool and the money spent on it so far is enough for now. The money should be spent on other sections first in my humble opinion.

The sections they have fixed are great. I realize it's super expensive to build in the mountains. We can't keep using the "we're a big country" excuse to not build our country. If some of the people here were around during the railroad days they'd still be waiting for the CP in Vancouver. The big issue is that the problems were ignored so long that the task ahead is monumental. If they had slowly done upgrades over several decades they'd be miles ahead. But pretty much nothing was done. The death count and accident statistics grew. The economy suffered. The road is closed an unacceptable number of days each year. Then someone woke up.

This douchbaggy Albertan (I've lived in BC too) got a little frustrated when a 6 hour drive turned into 12 hours - much of it a parking lot. Sorry about the whining. I guess you can tell the family of the 34 year old that was killed that the roads are safe. No center barrier on new sections - and lots of head-on's - but safe in your opinion.

Try not to let a few ignorant people spoil it. A lot of people in BC are nice and love tourists.

They've even removed those silly anti-tourist parking fees in BC parks. I remember standing in a parking lot at thanksgiving. Two or three cars in a huge empty lot. 5 BC parks people standing there - yelling "don't forget to pay for parking". Hilarious. But sad. BC is becoming another Quebec. Lots of nice people, but the bad apples and rudeness to their fellow countrymen gives the whole place a bad name.

BC Highways have come so far in the 4-5 years since i moved to BC the first time. Obviously a lot of work yet to be done, but the topography and low population helps determine it.

Priorities should be the continual 4-laning of Highway 1 east of Kamloops, upgrading Highway 1 east of the Gateway Program into Chilliwack, and general safety improvements (more passing lanes, better geometry around corners) on most highways where it is feasible to do so.

Whats the difference between rudeness to fellow canadians outside of your province, to rudeness to everyone in general...Edmonton is by far the rudest city I have ever been to. And I`ve been to quite a few American cities ..

Not really a construction post, but some photos along BC highways. :rolleyes:

Duffey Lake along BC-99 (Sea to Sky Highway) between Pemberton and Lillooet.
http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-c..._panoraama.jpg

Almost 3000 meters tall mountains along BC-99 (Sea to Sky Highway) just before Lillooet.
http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-c..._panoraama.jpg

Fraser River valley along BC-12 between Lillooet and Lytton.
http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-c..._panoraama.jpg

Moro photos in here.

I'm sorry to hear that was your experience in Edmonton, but I'm really surprised to hear that. I've encountered rude people everywhere, but don't really find Edmonton to be worse than anywhere else. What happened to give you that impression?

I've found American's are less rude than Canadians (I work with a lot of American's and they're generally very friendly folks). I don't know about Edmonton - I've only been there a few times and never had a problem. A lot of people complain about Quebec where I work, and I know France has announced a campaign to be nicer to tourists. Seems like a French culture thing. Anyway, BC in general is ok, but you see a lot of anti-Alberta talk on websites (if that's any indication of the general population I don't know). I think a lot of BC'ers see Alberta as some polluted oil soaked mess - and assume everyone works in and loves the oil industry. Just like some people think BC is a forest clearcutting, raw sewage in the ocean type of place. Like all stereotypes there is some tiny truth - but it's mostly wrong.

On the topic of roads you hear a lot here from big city BC that assume the rest of the province is some backwoods unimportant empty space. And roads to Canada should be ignored because they're empty or just clogged with evil tourists. Forgetting the truckers, trade, and the huge importance of tourism to the BC economy. When the mayor of Revelstoke hears complaints from Europeans about the shocking state of roads in BC, and the main highway in BC is closed for several weeks a year then it's about time to start fixing it. BC needs to think of tourists as people who come and drop off a big pile of money then leave - since that's what tourists are - a huge source of income.

BC has made great progress. But like with Alberta highway upgrades - and I imagine highways in many parts of the world, progress is painfully slow. I don't quite understand it - given the economic and safety benefits you'd think politicians wouldn't ignore roads like they tend to do. Sadly they typically look for short term political gain rather than long term benefits for their area. There are some areas of the world where transportation and safety is a priority. The Romans and Mayans knew it was worth the cost.

As for tolls - I'm not the fence about that. I'd gladly pay a coq type toll - assuming it was removed when the road was paid for, but really people are paying tolls already. It's called a huge gasoline tax in BC. Tolls tend to hurt the poor, inconvenience the middle class, and really help the rich. Not particularly fair.

^ I've spent the majority of my life in the interior of BC. I can attest to the bad behaviour and arrogant, entitled attitudes that give Albertans a bad reputation in BC, espeically the Okanagan and shuswap areas. That's exactly why the family bought our recreational property in the Cariboo district. I see you are great at making sweeping generalizations, But I have lots of driving experience.. tonnes in fact, driving almost every highway from Creston to Chetwynd, a lot of it in a five tonne car carrier that I drove for a friends' company while in college. And that was in the early 90's.. things were worse back then. Maybe I am a much better driver than you, and I reiterate that the only time I hear smivelling about the roads is when some douchy Albertan wants to be albe to do 130 to his shack on the lake.

BC is not Alberta, road building is much more difficult and expensive. And at least in Alberta they don't do stupid things like allow at grade intersections on divided 4 lane freeways where the speed limit is 110 kph. And I couldn't give two shits if you don't like my attitude. It's people like you that give all Albertans a bad name in BC.