Propsed Eastside traffic solutions

The public had an opportunity to view a draft plan of recommended changes to east Osoyoos in order to address traffic and safety issues.
Turnout at the open house was strong, which was held at the Sonora Centre from 3 to 7 p.m. last Wednesday, with over 90 people signing in and an estimated 200 in attendance.
The traffic study, a joint study between the Town of Osoyoos, the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) and the Ministry of Transportation, was initiated in August 2004 and this was the first opportunity for public viewing and input on the study.
Senior Engineer Dave Kneeshaw, of Kneeshaw Engineering in Kam-loops, was on hand to answer questions and explain the concept plans, which include in the first phase, the elimination of parking on the south side of Highway 3/Main Street in order to provide a centre turning lane.
Although no one at the open house was prepared to offer a timeline for the transportation plan, phase one would likely be initiated 'fairly soon.'rnThe Town of Osoyoos wanted to know where traffic problems might happen as further development occurs along Cotton-wood Drive, Lakeshore Drive and 45th Street (leading to OIB lands), Kneeshaw explained.
Also at the open house were Town of Osoyoos CAO Elsie Lemke and Councillors Tom Shields and Dick Flintoft; Nk'Mip Campground Manager Chris Bower and OIB Economic Development Officer Chris Scott; and from the Ministry of Transportation, District Manager Okanagan-Shuswap District Grant Lachmuth and Senior District Development Technician Joey Bryant.
There are no timelines. This will be a phased development, a lot of which will be development driven. And developers will pay for a lot of the improvements, Kneeshaw said.
All the committee representatives agreed they wanted feedback from the community and were pleased to see so many people take an interest in the study.
If there is a particular concern that people have about a road or a street, they have a chance to comment on that, said Bower.
Lemke said that the comments gathered will be addressed by the same committee that has worked on the plan. She added that the Town office will have copies of the plan available for the public to pick up and it should also be posted on the town's website.
The committee in-cluded Dave Kneeshaw, Elsie Lemke, Chris Scott and Joey Bryant, as well as other town planners, engineers, public works and ministry staff.
We want to stress to the community that these are options, concepts - nothing is set in stone, said Grant Lachmuth.
Basically, we are identifying ideas and issues. We'll take all the positive comments and the concerns and look at how they may change or solidify those plans, Bryant added.
Kneeshaw said later that the committee had some good feedback at the open house which will be incorporated into the plans as much as possible.
Further changes will likely be made. These plans are not 'final' or 'approved' but they do reflect the committee's best efforts at meeting the upcoming traffic management requirements as much as can be foreseen at the present time.
More detailed consultation will be required with the landowners as engineer-ing design gets underway for the various components of the system. Timeframes are flexible, and will be subject to development pressure and public agency budgeting, said Kneeshaw.
The committee may decide, after they have reviewed all the comments from the public, to hold a second open house, or they may just post the changes to the plan on the town's website and make copies available to the public.
That could happen possibly in November, or due to the election, it may be postponed until after the new council has been elected, Lemke said.
Reactions to the study were mixed. Although most who attended the open house agreed that new roads and signal lights would have to be added with the increasing developments in east and south Osoyoos, some questioned why no planning was addressed west of the bridge.
If they're creating more lanes of traffic on the east side, what are they going to do west of the bridge? wondered eastside resident Fred Cawdell.
After the bridge, traffic flows to two lanes again! I look at them tearing up Tulip Park but I question what they will do once they realize they will have to do something about the bridge in the future. And from what I could see, I wonder why they want to stop Tamarack Drive between Cedar Lane and Jackpine Lane. That just escapes me, Cawdell added.
Eastside resident Chuck Emery agreed.
They're doing nothing west of the bridge. The traffic problems are not only in east Osoyoos - the town needs to look at the whole picture, Emery said. They're concerned with the seven entrances onto Highway 3 from the bridge to 45th Street, but there are 11 or 12 entrances onto Main Street west of the bridge. The plan here is half-assed, if you ask me, said Emery.