Kaleden residents are looking for government help to improve pedestrian safety in their community.
Kim Denis presented a petition Thursday to the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen that calls on it to get to work on a plan to add a pedestrian corridor to Lakehill Road.
She said the “narrow, heavily-used road,” which runs from Highway 97 down to Skaha Lake and provides access to parks, trails and community services, is in dire need of improvement.
“It has no shoulders, there’s no pedestrian corridor and it’s dangerous to the many users. Has anyone considered the safety of the children that walk to the elementary school? What about people walking with pets on leashes?”
Denis told directors that residents aren’t calling for the installation of sidewalks alongside the road, but rather a wider right of way with a granular surface similar to the KVR Trail.
The petition Denis presented to the RDOS had 183 signatures. She said another petition with 225 names is still open and will be sent to the B.C. government later this month.
Denis asked the RDOS to spend $6,000 on a conceptual design for a new Lakehill Road corridor, and noted similar study on the West Bench later resulted in a $496,155 grant from the B.C. government to construct the route. She also asked the RDOS to lobby the B.C. government to undertake the improvement work.
The board didn’t vote on either request, but Tom Siddon, the area’s RDOS director, said the cost to widen the road would be “substantial” and co-operation between the local and provincial governments would be critical.
