One of the busiest and most accident-plagued intersections in West Kelowna will shut down next Wednesday for a lengthy reconstruction.
The corner of Butt Road and Old Okanagan Highway will be closed to allow for new turning lanes, and the addition of sidewalks, bike lanes and waterworks. It will remain blocked to traffic until sometime this fall.聽
鈥淭his project involves significant underground utility installations and deep excavation, making it unsafe, costly and inefficient to allow through-traffic while work is underway,鈥 the city says.聽
Project cost is $4.3 million. The corner has the only set of traffic lights maintained by the municipality.
Nevertheless, 鈥渋t is associated with the highest collision cost of all intersections in the city,鈥 a report to council in May stated.聽
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a single person in this room that hasn鈥檛 either had a close call or played chicken with another car while trying to get through this intersection,鈥 Coun. Tasha Da Silva said at that meeting.聽
She added: 鈥淕ood luck to us all with the detours this summer.鈥