The mayor of Barriere says even with new passing lanes on Highway 5, passing on the highway still could be improved.

Ward Stamer says he’d like to see the Yellowhead Highway speed dropped back to 90 kilometers per hour in some sections of the North Thompson corridor.

“When they increased the speed limit from 90 to 100, they also had to eliminate a lot of the regular passing opportunities from Heffley Creek to Barriere and north. Because all of a sudden now the distances are too short between those sections,” Stamer says.

The province recently completed three-kilometer-long passing lanes on the highway in both directions near Darfield, just north of Barriere.

“It’s great that we’re improving the opportunities for extra passing lanes and trying to disperse the traffic, but we’re also still getting bottle-necked.”

Stamer says those will help, but he says being unable to safely pass in some spots will still create lineups on the two-lane highway.