PETERS – Fence or overpass, TRU and City can’t wall off their relationship
The gauntlet. (Image: Mel rothenburger)
THE PROPOSAL FOR AN OVERPASS spanning Summit Drive and leading to the Thompson Rivers University campus is so old, it’s almost eligible to enroll at TRU.
It’s so old, I remember former councillor John O’Fee discussing how jaywalkers have to be sharper than other pedestrians because they don’t have the crosswalk to protect them.
And for as long as the idea has been around, people have had very strong opinions about it.
Certain former newspaper editors are adamantly opposed, calling it an unnecessary waste of money.
$10 million is certainly pricier than some well-placed fencing might be — fencing that would force students crossing Summit to use the crosswalk at McGill Road.
However, walls and fences are almost always the ugliest form of infrastructure and could really bring an incarcerated feel to that area of Kamloops.
James Peters is the radio anchor at CFJC, coming to Kamloops in 2006. He anchors the afternoon news on B-100 and 98.3 CIFM, and contributes weekly editorials to the CFJC Evening News. He tweets regularly @Jamloops.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
When you’re dodging faster traffic, the phone is not a distraction, and the visibility is a greater distance than the McGill area. The extra coordination required allows the participant to spend less time in the gym. and the survivors get to have children. When I was pre-teen the comments were ”be back for supper at 5:30”, and we had trees to climb, ponds to build rafts on, Kanaka Creek in the woods and the Fraser River on the other side of the CPR two track mainline. We learned where our abilities were ok or NOT. Helicopter parenting came in 30 years later and the results are obvious.
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This overpass and a few others are needed for the proper completion of the active transportation network. A network which is absolutely needed and way behind schedule. The compromise could be a ramp from the Summit Drive/McGill Road intersection leading towards the overpass built where the City wants it built. The City’s chosen location is better in my opinion because it leads closer to the actual TRU campus.
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This is part and parcel of the things we see with crime and drug abuse. We have people performing criminal acts and breaking norms, but instead of punishing them and holding them accountable, we give them drugs and don’t issue prison terms for the criminals.
In the case of TRU, students jwalk, but instead of making them follow the rule of law, and simply use the crosswalk that is right there, we reward their actions and build a $10 million dollar bridge – a few feet from a crosswalk!
Get real. Both TRU and council are trying to gouge taxpayers. Put those funds toward something useful.
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How about a compromise? Do a count of how many “students” aka pedestrians cross that road and at what times of the day and week.
Let the math & engineering students at TRU do some number crunching and be part of the solution with THEIR ideas of what is needed and what would work.
Maybe the solution could be as simple as having a new crosswalk complete with proper road markings, LED lighting, flashing yellow lights and signage.
Affordable, Safe and Sensible.
Everybody wins and the fighting might finally be over.
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