As a Vernon native who now lives out of the city, I had a solid chuckle at Mr. Taylor’s comments (Sept. 11) regarding the Stickle Road fiasco and finally have decided to write in on this issue.
Long ago, I watched the piles of dirt sit at the end of Swan Lake while engineers contemplated for years whether an overpass was feasible and if the sinking dirt would impact the design of the Highway 97 overpass.
It is safe to assume similar length studies would need to be conducted on the wetlands currently occupied by BX Creek trail.
If, after decades with no changes, the Stickle Road situation is suddenly a threat to life or the safety of those in the area, wouldn’t it be prudent to implement a solution immediately?
The multi-million dollar solution favoured by the mayor and the province would take much longer to resolve the safety issues used as justification for the change.
Dropping a light standard and painting lines on the highway could realistically be done in a matter of months.
Like Mr. Tribes suggested in this space, perhaps Vernon’s media should do some investigative research into “where the money goes” to determine the reason why the slow and expensive option is preferred.
Comparing the stop-and-go situation in Edmonton to that of a possible future Vernon is a non sequitur given the enormously different roles each city plays in their geographic region.
I could discuss growth opportunities between the two cities, but in short, I have little expectation past missteps in Vernon’s urban planning potentially forcing a $1 billion retooling of the entire infrastructure.
Vernon, frankly, will never be the sixth biggest city in Canada.
Perhaps, just to add yet another absurd option to the list being considered for Stickle, we could add an element of Ottawa municipal politics and propose a light rail transportation (LRT) option to move the hoards of people transiting from Pleasant Valley to downtown Vernon.
But, by the time the studies of that option were completed or, quite probably, the 20th Street extension is implemented, we’ll be living in a world of autonomous vehicles and this whole intersection issue will be moot.
Nicholas Scott
Ottawa
