Honourable Blair Lekstrom – Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
Dear Minister Lekstrom:
Re: Highway 97 – McIntyre Passing Lanes
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is planning to widen Highway 97 just south of Vaseux Lake near McIntyre Bluff to establish a passing lane in each direction. This is not just a marginal widening of the highway – it will expand the swath of the Highway to 2.5 times wider than it currently is.
I recently found out about this plan when a property agent of your Ministry contacted me to begin negotiations to purchase some of our family property. However, the purpose of this letter is not to follow up on property acquisition. Rather, I am writing as a concerned citizen of British Columbia. I want to bring the following points to your attention. I would be most grateful if you will respond to them.
1. Why does this location make sense for expanding the highway with a passing lane in each direction? Heading north, speeding up to pass makes no sense as you immediately have to slow down for the very bad/dangerous corner at Vaseux Lake. Heading south, speeding up to pass makes no sense as you just have to slow down for the residential area near Gallagher Lake. A sign has recently been posted on the side of the Highway (adjacent to McIntyre Dam) warning south bound traffic that they are entering a residential area and warning them to avoid excessive noise and use of engine breaks.
2. Considerable investment was made this past year to re-pave the existing Highway along the stretch proposed for the Highway expansion. Isn’t this a waste of taxpayer money?
3. The planning process for this project is fundamentally flawed, in two important ways:
a. First, there has been no public consultation stage. According to your Ministry, planning for this project has been going on since 1989. This means 22 years of planning and designing the highway expansion without consultation with the public and other interested stakeholders. The public will be informed of the location and design of the expansion at an information meeting scheduled for January 12, 2012. Your Ministry wrote to me: “Typically it is only when a project advances past planning that projects become public knowledge.” This is wrong: the public and other stakeholders should have been involved in the planning process to provide input on different alternatives to the location selected at McIntyre Bluff.
b. Second, there has been no environmental impact study done for this project. The selected location will further carve up antelope-brush habitat, considered one of Canada’s four most endangered ecosystems. It also encroaches on unique riparian habitat, along one of the very few natural segments of the Okanagan River. Because this area contains a number of endangered species, such as Behr’s Hairstreak butterfly, any negative impact on critical habitat can have severe consequences for biodiversity. It is irresponsible to proceed with this project until the effects on the environment have been thoroughly assessed.
There are many important environmental questions. For example, how does widening the Highway (by more than double) affect road kill of wildlife crossing it? – not just deer, but what about endangered small mammals, reptiles and amphibians? How does this wider barrier affect habitat connectivity, known to be a critical factor affecting biodiversity? What about the impact of increased noise, both during construction and ongoing due to cars and trucks changing gears, accelerating, then braking. This noise gets exacerbated by the echo from McIntyre Bluff. Studies have shown that certain birds and bats are adversely affected in their breeding and hunting patterns by noise. What if the endangered Yellow-breasted Chat or Pallid Bat were affected?
Your Ministry has indicated that it is currently looking at opportunities to replace the environmentally sensitive land consumed for highway expansion. This approach can sometimes provide suitable compensation, but not in this location which is home to unique plants and animals and endangered species. B.C.’s biodiversity is at stake.
This project should be cancelled, unless a proper planning process is carried out which clearly shows that the McIntyre Passing Lanes are in the long term interests of society. A proper planning process would involve input from the public and other stakeholders plus an environmental impact study before the decision is made.
George Kennedy
Cc:
Hon. Bill Barisoff, MLA
Nature Trust of B.C.
Allan Patton, Director, RDOS
John Harper, Property Agent
Lyonel Doherty, Editor, Oliver Chronicle
South Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Program