The big-city traffic problems plaguing the small town of Enderby have caught some provincial attention.
The Ministry of Transportation has recognized the congestion that occurs on Highway 97A through Enderby every summer and plans to collect vehicle data next year.
“That’s good news because anyone who lives here or tries to travel through from April to October knows how busy it is,” said Enderby Mayor Greg McCune.
The ministry will do a vehicle count of the number of trucks, cars and semi-trucks that accumulate on the city’s main thoroughfare.
“They’re going to do a study in the spring and summer to identify the actual body of traffic,” said McCune. “They’ll probably do a six-month evaluation.”
With that data, the ministry can look at some shorter-term fixes. Meanwhile long-term improvement options identified are a bypass, couplet and four-laning. The news came from Monday’s Enderby Committee of Whole meeting, where a ministry delegation made a presentation to council. The ministry Highway 97A update report is available below.
“They acknowledged how busy we are, ‘holy cow, you guys are 10 years ahead of yourselves,’” said McCune.
As part of the plan, the third phase in crossings is also being looked at for Knight Avenue.
“It’s a very well-used street,” said McCune.
In fact, it is a daily occurrence that people will pull up to the intersection and knowing that they have a five- to 10-minute wait, they will get their kid to jump out and push the pedestrian crossing signal.
“When we told them (the ministry) that, they’re face was like, ‘what?!” said McCune, who admits to doing the same thing.
Hwy 97A Enderby Presentation by Morning Star on Scribd