Synchronize The Lights On Harvey.

They recently announced another $58,000 or so, for yet another STUDY on traffic problems along Highway 97 in Kelowna.

The solution is just too simple.

The lights are currently set for 90, 100, and 110 seconds depending on the intersection traffic and left lane turns etc. The majors like Gordon and Spall for instance are 110. Richter and the like are 90. That's why they can not be synchronized. Why do they do this? According to City Hall, so pedestrians don't have to wait so long for the lights to change.

Duh! What a farce. 50,000 plus cars daily are forced to stop and start all along Harvey so a few pedestrians are not inconvenienced.

The solution is to set ALL lights for the 110 seconds and synchronization is a breeze.

At the very least, set Harvey for flow one way and Springfield the other way depending on time of day and/or bridge lane openings.

Another obvious problem is the merge at both ends of the bridge. The law says you must merge at the sign. Further, you MUST let traffic merge if it is your lane it is merging with. I think the fine for ignoring this is $159. Having 2 signs on the Kelowna side confuses the law and sets bad habits that are then practiced on the other end of the bridge.

15 years ago it was my recommendation that they move the merge sign (Kelowna side), north, one pole, so that it would be visible driving along Harvey and thus switching lanes better facilitated. They did, but left the existing sign. The original sign should be removed.

Campbell Road at the west end of bridge is an intersection. It is illegal to block an intersection. This fact seems to be ignored constantly. Now that we have some of our RCMP back from Hells Angels investigation, let's assign one or two to enforcing traffic laws. I won't even mention the illegal left turns into the outside lanes that is the norm in this town. Oops, guess I just did!

-Dave Gingras