Kelowna Construction

[DKaz]

I was in bridge traffic for 25 minutes this morning from Boucherie to when I got off the bridge in Kelowna, it was disgusting. Stalled car on the bridge.

I was going to ride my bike to work for bike to work week but got called to a meeting on short notice. It would've been faster for me to ride my bike.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by DKaz

I was in bridge traffic for 25 minutes this morning from Boucherie to when I got off the bridge in Kelowna, it was disgusting. Stalled car on the bridge.

I was going to ride my bike to work for bike to work week but got called to a meeting on short notice. It would've been faster for me to ride my bike.

I used to cross that bridge every day for work. Coming back to Kelowna in the summertime was brutal.

[RWin]

Originally Posted by giallo

I used to cross that bridge every day for work. Coming back to Kelowna in the summertime was brutal.

At least it isn't still a ferry

My dad took this photo in 1960 not long after the first bridge was opened.

[Calgarian]

Are there any long term plans for a second crossing in Kelowna? that's the only real solution there.

[giallo]

^ There's always talk of it, but I don't know how close it is to coming to fruition.

Originally Posted by RWin

At least it isn't still a ferry

My dad took this photo in 1960 not long after the first bridge was opened.

Oh man, the ferry would have been a task.

Westbank must have been like an island back then. I can't think of any reason people would have gone over there other than to connect to Vancouver. Even Kelowna without the bridge was extremely cut off, from the coast in particular. That bridge really helped the city boom. I don't think my parents would have relocated from Victoria without it. The Coquihalla Connector was the other catalyst to help fuel Kelowna's growth.

[LFRENCH]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Are there any long term plans for a second crossing in Kelowna? that's the only real solution there.

about the same as a second ring road.. The only real hope is that Westbank starts to develop enough employment to mitigate some of the commuter traffic. That being said lots of locals seem to be fairly set on being from one side or the other.

[DKaz]

The second crossing in 20 years away at minimum.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by giallo

^ There's always talk of it, but I don't know how close it is to coming to fruition.




Oh man, the ferry would have been a task.

Westbank must have been like an island back then. I can't think of any reason people would have gone over there other than to connect to Vancouver. Even Kelowna without the bridge was extremely cut off, from the coast in particular. That bridge really helped the city boom. I don't think my parents would have relocated from Victoria without it. The Coquihalla Connector was the other catalyst to help fuel Kelowna's growth.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but before the bridge was built, people from Calgary and eastern BC would go hang out in Kelowna, and people from Vancouver and west BC would go to Penticton.

Originally Posted by LFRENCH

about the same as a second ring road.. The only real hope is that Westbank starts to develop enough employment to mitigate some of the commuter traffic. That being said lots of locals seem to be fairly set on being from one side or the other.

I think the bigger Westbank and West Kelowna get, the more you will have traffic between them and Kelowna. Like I said, I think the only real solution is another crossing. That or a new highway on the east side of the lake, but there isn't really a good place for that or it would exist already.

[Calgarian]

Dp.

[SOSS]

A historical solution would have been to have the regional district, who managed West Kelowna until recent incorporation, to severely limit growth. If it wasn't for growing to 40K unchecked under the RDCO they wouldn't have even needed a 5 lane bridge to replace the 3 lane preexisting one. But we can't rewrite history. A current solution would be some type of cue jumping lanes to allow buses, that carry 200x more people then SOV, to cross quickly and easily.

[Calgarian]

I wonder if they could do a gondola or something to help people cross the lake. It wouldn't do much for cars obviously, but pedestrians and cyclists could use it, and then it could also be served by transit on both sides. Thoughts?

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I wonder if they could do a gondola or something to help people cross the lake. It wouldn't do much for cars obviously, but pedestrians and cyclists could use it, and then it could also be served by transit on both sides. Thoughts?

NIMBYs would be up in arms about people peering into their yards. Also, because there is no town-centre on the immediate west side I can't see it drawing much pedestrian traffic.

[DKaz]

There was already a bunch of money poured into the 97 Okanagan Connector, I doubt anything would be built to put that investment to waste. It's a good bus service which I take every once in awhile, just needs some queue jumping lanes. And the three laning of the bridge eastbound.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by SOSS

NIMBYs would be up in arms about people peering into their yards. Also, because there is no town-centre on the immediate west side I can't see it drawing much pedestrian traffic.

Oh I'm sure they would be, NIMBYs are up in arms over everything that isn't exactly the same as what's there now.

[SOSS]

Starting Thursday morning, Kelowna's Ethel Street, between Stockwell Avenue and Bernard Avenue will close for work on the second phase of the Ethel Street active transportation corridor.

According to Kelowna city hall, east-west cross streets within the construction zone, including Fuller venue and Wilson Avenue, will also be closed to thru traffic.

Alternate routes will be available using Bernard , Cawston, Coronation and Clement.

Pedestrians and cyclists are advised to detour due to uneven surfaces.

The $3.5 million project began in April and is anticipated for completion in October. Improvements will include separated cycle tracks on both sides of the road, new sidewalks, landscaping and utility improvements.

Last year, the city completed the first phase of the multi-use pathway on Ethel Street between Harvey Avenue (Highway 97) and Bernard.

For more information about road closures and detours, visit kelowna.ca/roadreport.

[DKaz]

I love how progressive Kelowna is about bike lanes. I haven't ridden on Ethel yet but I likely will once it connects to Cawston.

Biking with my kids on the Cawston/Clement multi-use path:




The Sutherland bike path will also be huge. It will be even better like Ethel as the bike path will be separate from the walking path.

http://apps.kelowna.ca/CityPage/Docs...df?t=014836402

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I read that when I was in Kelowna last summer. From what I hear from people who live there, it is very likely true.

It depends what metric you use. Likely in this case it was the metric of the average-cost-of-a-home divided by the average-annual-salary. Kelowna by this measure sucks!

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by SOSS

It depends what metric you use. Likely in this case it was the metric of the average-cost-of-a-home divided by the average-annual-salary. Kelowna by this measure sucks!

Almost exactly 9 years later... lol

[DKaz]

We can buy a house about 4.5x our combined salary in Kelowna or Vancouver. The difference is, the commute from said house is 15-30 minutes in Kelowna and 75-90 minutes in Vancouver, since we'd have to buy in Abbotsford.

The average house price in Kelowna is $600,000. Our target price is somewhere below that. What kinda sucks is that a lot of the new construction here is middle to upper end. I wish a developer would come in and build the under $400k brand new homes like they build in Alberta. Uninspired boxes with vinyl siding, laminate countertops, and plain jane plumbing fixtures, but they work.

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by DKaz

I love how progressive Kelowna is about bike lanes.

There is almost nothing progressive about bike lanes.