Following a fifth fatal accident on Hwy. 97 near Duck Lake this year, a renewed call for concrete medians is being heard.
The stretch of highway from the Kelowna Airport to Lake Country has long been seen as a dangerous stretch of road with far too many head on crashes, killing five people this year alone.
This stretch of highway now getting attention similar to a section 20 km north, between Oyama and Vernon, that was separated by a median this year following several fatal head-on crashes.
Lake Country Mayor James Baker has pleaded with the Ministry of Transportation for years to put in the medians and the ministry says they are now in the works.
“We are in the planning stages now to look at what can be done, we are looking at barriers, but there is definitely work to be done,” says Murray Tekano, district manager with the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
He says the now completed 11 km of work from Oyama to Vernon was different as the barriers were built between intersections with islands already installed.
“We don't have that continuously along this section so there is definitely some engineering that needs to be done to figure that out.”
Despite reports the medians can be expected in 2015, Tekano says it is early in the planning stages and they can not say when drivers can expect the highway improvements.
“It depends on how we approach it,” says Tekano. “It could be done as one large project, it could be done in parts, so we don’t know yet exactly when that would start, but we are in the planning stages right now with some consultation scheduled for next year.”
The most recent accident on that stretch of highway claimed the life a 48-year-old Kelowna woman, igniting the call again for concrete medians on that stretch.
“The most recent incident there is very troubling and our thoughts are with the family and friends there,” says Tekano. “Safety is our top priority and as we are monitoring the highways we recognize there are areas that need attention, and this is clearly one of them.”