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Kelowna  

End in sight to hwy work

The end is in sight to a year of construction on Highway 97 through Kelowna. 

But it's still a way off.

A tour of the six-laning project from Highway 33 to Edwards Road on Wednesday revealed the majority of underground work is done. But motorists will have to grin and bear it for a while yet.

"We have reached a 40 per cent completion on the project and ... we want to show the progress on the highway to give people in the Central Okanagan an appreciation as to what's going to happen between now and next winter of 2017 before completion," Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick. 

Media were taken by bus from the Jakens Street road extension, along Highway 97 to the realignment of Finns Road and to the Rutland Road realignment. A stop at the Sexsmith intersection was made to explain improvements that will take place in April. The final stop was the Lloyd Road extension.  

Lindsay Stringer, regional project manager with the Ministry of Transportation, said: " Kelowna is growing, and the traffic in the city is expanding ... this is part of the expansion work to accommodate that traffic. "

Completion is expected in December, and Stringer says: "We are on track to meet the deadline. "



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