The Mayor of Barriere wants to see a variable speed corridor set up on Highway 5 between his community and Heffley Creek.

Ward Stamer says it will allow the highway maintenance contractor to reduce the speed limit, particularly during times of bad weather, similar to what is done on the Coquihalla.

He tells NL News he’s brought this issue up with the Ministry of Transportation in the past.

“I know there are some engineering issues and that sort of thing but the reality is we’ve got power all the way through there, we’ve got cell service all the way through there,” Stamer said.

“There are times of the year I’m positive it should be 80 km/hr and not 100 km/hr, particularly though those rock bluffs and that sort of thing. I’m sure it wouldn’t cost that much money to be able to put something like that up and give it a try.”

Stamer says the lack of a variable speed corridor can – at times – make it difficult for the RCMP to encourage drivers to slow down.

“Right now, we’ve got 100 km/hr sign that is there for 365 days of the year, but if all of a sudden the weather changes unless you get in a crash, you go to court and you can say to the judge, ‘it wasn’t my fault, I was still going below the posted speed limit,” Stamer said.

Peter Milobar, the MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson is also calling on the provincial government to turn its attention to safety upgrades on Highway 5 in the North Thompson Valley.

He tells NL News a “fairly consistent” push to add things like passing lanes came to a stop in 2017 with the change in government.

“I think really that is what the people in the valley want to see, is a consistent methodical approach of targeting problem areas one after the other [where we] get back to that kind of yearly addition each time of critical passing lanes or corners being straightened out,” he said.

Stamer adds while there are some passing lanes on the highway, the increase in speed limit led to the loss of about seven or eight passing lanes between Heffley Creek and Barriere alone.

He’s also hoping to see full-time highway rescue crews to take the burden of volunteer firefighters, as well as an RCMP traffic reconstructionist based in Kamloops.

Also on the wish list is better signage and maintenance for some of the existing secondary access routes – like Dunn Lake Road to Blackpool or Heffley Louis Creek Road to Whitecroft – so that people can still travel up and down the North Thompson Valley if Highway 5 is closed due to a crash for an extended period of time.

“We’re not going to four-lane that piece of highway. There’s no way that we’re going to be able to make any significant improvements in there, and there are times of the year where the contractor can’t make it safe at 100 km/hr,” Stamer said.

“I’ve been here back and forth for 50 years. There are days where even I don’t want to drive it. I think there is something that we should be looking at outside of the box and not just coming up with a reason why we cannot do it.”