EDITORIAL – Summit overpass proposal hasn’t improved with age
The gauntlet run by Upper College Heights students every day. (Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
TUCKED AWAY IN A MOTION to add several capital project allocations back into the City’s five-year financial plan yesterday was a brief mention of the Summit overpass.
One of the expenditures recommended by staff was $731,334 for an “active transportation” capital fund that included, in brackets, the “next major project: Summit Overpass.”
Nobody on council asked any questions. They were fine removing a few hundred thousand for much-needed storage for the museum and for Old Courthouse renovations, and they questioned the McArthur Island ring road.
But the overpass, a planning chestnut that’s been around for at least eight years, caused nary a raised eyebrow.
It remains an idea whose time should never come. Its estimated cost started at a couple of million dollars and in 2020 it would likely be closer to $6 million.
COUNCIL NOTES: Tuesday’s council meeting was late getting started, apparently due to an in camera meeting running longer than usual…. Chief Administrative Officer David Trawin was taken ill as he was giving his report and was taken to RIH in an ambulance. It seemed odd for council reps not to identify Trawin by name when it was clear who it was, but it was a case of privacy and not wanting his family to hear about it via the media…. Mayor Ken Christian’s plan to install a memorial for Capt. Jenn Casey at the “Observation Park” adjacent to the airport was carried unanimously, with no one questioning why the public isn’t being asked for ideas. Coun. Arjun Singh praised the mayor for his “leadership” on the matter.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Well, the crosswalk at Summit and McGill is a problem. There is a lot of traffic and a tremendous number of pedestrians, which makes for a dangerous mix. People have been hit by cars in this intersection, and I have myself just narrowly avoided being hit a few times. Generally, making Kamloops more pedestrian friendly is good business. TRU contributes enormously to the community here. It makes a lot of sense to put a bridge there.
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An overpass at Summit is an unfortunate costly reality if you think like I do when commuting on my bicycle through that area…definitely not lazy. But then I would have an overpass at other locations too to make life easier and safer for a growing body of healthy, mindful cycling individuals…definitely not lazy. However you have a point. What if the City would truly adopt a mindset for transportation other than motor vehicle? What if cycling and walking would get encouraged by a road network conducive to such activities? Instead they keep on building the way of the old thus any retrofit will be unnecessarily more expensive.
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