Kelowna News

Kelowna drivers will soon have to get used to a new way of driving along portions of Highway 97.

Work on adding a sixth lane along Highway 97 from Gordon Drive to Highway 33 is expected to be complete around September 21st.

Once construction is finished, Ministry of Highways spokesman Bill Smith says, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes (HOV) along Highway 97 will be introduced.

Smith says before construction is complete, the media will be briefed of all the changes.

The curb lane in both directions will be reserved for HOV traffic, meaning vehicles with two or more people and transit buses.

As for the overall expansion to six lanes, Smith says mainline paving has been completed.

"There is some work on some of the median islands that have to be finished," says Smith. "There are also some sidewalks and boulevards that need to be done."

"We still have three more bus bays we have to cast concrete on."

Smith says there will be additional work for about two weeks after the sixth lane is open, but says that work will be off-highway work and won't impact highway traffic.

The project was originally scheduled to be finished near the end of August, however, Smith says an extension was granted after several changes were made.

"Once we started digging we found some utilities that were not previously known about. Then we added some bus bays to the project."