Vernon’s mayor says the Ministry of Transportation’s once firm stance over Stickle Road may be easing.
The ministry has asked to meet with Akbal Mund this week and the strong public opposition to a proposed T intersection on Highway 97.
“We can obviously continue to discuss Stickle Road and what solutions we can come up with,” said Mund.
The ministry is proposing to construct a protected T intersection to allow for left-turns from Stickle Road on to the highway towards Vernon.
There would be a separate left turn with turn-around access for the Silver Star RV Park area and the ministry would eliminate highway cross-movements and left-hand turns from the RV park.
Anyone turning left from Stickle on to the highway would not be able to use the 27th Street exit.
When asked about public opposition last week, Murray Tekano, the ministry’s senior project director, stated, “We’ve been explaining why a signal won’t work. It’s something we can’t do.”
But the ministry was inundated with complaints about the proposal during a public open house Wednesday and calls for a traffic signal at Stickle.
“I stayed a long time there and I had two people come up to me who like the proposal and everyone else is opposed,” said Mund.
“Hopefully they (ministry) will listen.”
Eric Foster, Vernon-Monashee MLA, has suggested that the Stickle Road plan may have to be reviewed given public concerns, and he will raise the issue with Transportation Minister Todd Stone.
