I got off work the other day and decided to lounge at an outdoor cafe. The coffee came, then a band of urban whiners showed up on their bicycles.
As they got comfy, their chatter centred around the roadways they ride on. To a man, each one remarked at how wonderful Spallumcheen's new pavement is on St. Anne's, Otter Lake and Larkin Cross roads and last year's effort on Grandview Flats Road. Simply amazing. Sadly, it didn't take long until they turned to the absolute crap roads they ride on in the regional district.
No one can figure out how the Ministry of Transportation gets away with doing nothing on Pleasant Valley, East Vernon, Baker Hogg, L&A, East Dedecker and Dixon Dam roads, etc. Someone mentioned the Stickle Road fiasco to add to the pile.
I regularly drive on the highway from Vernon to Armstrong, never giving thought to the fact I've not seen improvements for years on that stretch of road. These guys seemed like normal folks with legitimate concerns, so instead of condemning them, I drove over the aforementioned roads on my way back to Vernon.
What I found gave me a whole new appreciation of these riders' risky daily ride on these side roads as riding on Highway 97 is just not acceptable.
It's amazing the number of crumbled kilometres of roads in these areas.
Supposedly, someone monitors these roads, guessing that doesn't happen as there isn't a Timmies anywhere close to these routes.
One of them even went to ask when there may be improvements. They were told five to seven more years. Another fellow said that was the fairly tale he was told five years ago.
Of course we could ask our MLA, if we could actually find him.
Someone else piped up that he now knows why they are dubbed the Department of Holidays.
I can't really fault these opinions as I am sure everyone has been paying lots of dough on their property taxes to have these roads looked after, not to mention every time we fill up with gas. How about the people that live on these roads?
Do they wonder where their money goes?
So how many more deaths on these roads will it take to get a decent road built? I remember the old saw that said, "Walk a mile in my shoes." Maybe that should be updated to "ride."
Wouldn't you love to see that? By the way, this changed my attitude towards bike riders.
F.J. Gouchie
Vernon