Old Kamloops Road is ripped up but there’s no green light to proceed with further upgrades.
Some residents want the city’s portion of Old Kamloops Road repaved while the east side is under construction by the Regional District of North Okanagan’s water utility.
“Normally, it would be cheaper and logical to time our construction and repair work with the water system expansion work the regional district is doing, but in this case it is not,” said Rob Dickinson, the city’s engineering manager.
“If the city waits to use its own contractor in this situation, our costs for road work will be far less expensive.”
Vernon is only responsible for 2.2 kilometres of the road from 43 Avenue to 400 meters from Agassiz Road. The remainder of the road is the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation.
The city’s portion is being analyzed to determine the condition of the road to decide when work should proceed and what kind of work should occur.
““We don’t want to rush into the higher cost of re-construction now when the cheaper option of re-paving it later is what may be needed,” said Dickinson.
Some residents have also asked for a multi-use path along the city’s portion of Old Kamloops Road and a staff report is expected Sept. 10.
