The City of Kamloops will have to wait on discussions with the Ministry of Transportation and Transit before it can determine when the work will start to realign the westbound off-ramp from the TransCanada to the Pacific Way intersection.

That work is to create a second left turn lane on to Pacific Way, sometime in 2025.

“Significant progress has been made in developing the refined design, including drainage considerations to preserve the [Pacific Way] bridge’s integrity and roadway structure,” said the City in its briefing report to Kamloops Council, which also notes ‘electrical procedures’ planned by Province, which owns and maintains the intersection.

“Meetings between the City, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and the contractor have been held to discuss implementing construction traffic management plans (i.e. ramp closure plans) with minimal impacts on traffic flow on the [TransCanada] highway while maintaining compliance with safety standards,” continued the brief by City staff.

The scope of the work has not yet been revealed, but the shutdown of that off-ramp is likely to create traffic headaches for locals on either side of Highway 1, as well as shoppers who frequent the area.

The Pacific Way off-ramp is a highly-used access point for vehicles entering both Aberdeen to the south, as well as north into the Dufferin neighborhood.

Exit 367 is also one of the most convenient ways to access the Aberdeen Mall, as well as Cascades Casino — the root reason for the impending traffic delays.

Upgrade a decade in the making

City Council of the day in 2014 — going against the recommendation of City Staff — approved the move of the then-Lake City-turned-Cascades Casino from its original downtown location at 540 Victoria Street to Versatile Drive in Aberdeen.

In granting ask of owner Gateway Casinos, the City would later commit to traffic upgrades the Ministry of Transportation to try to secure Provincial sign-off on the Casino’s re-envisioning inside the former Rona location at 1555 Versatile Drive.

The ask for traffic enhancements was based on analysis done in 2015, after the approvals by the City to move the Casino were already given.

Originally pegged at $2.3 million, the cost of creating the second left turn lane have since grown by over a million dollars.

Now estimated at $3.4 million, the upgrades have also been given priority ahead of work which had been planned to the City-run intersections at the traffic confluence in north Kamloops where Ord Road, Westsyde Road, Halston Avenue, Bachelor Hills Drive and 8th Street all come together.

Council’s decision to go forward with the Pacific Way project means those upgrades are being put off until at least 2027 or 2028.

“Westsyde Road, Ord and Halston intersection are our responsibilities,” noted Councillor Bill Sarai in his opposition to the project.  “We’ve been after the safety of that intersection for five years now.  There’s more highly likely an accident in that crazy intersection than here [Pacific Way].”

While Sarai was the only one on Council to vote against the Pacific Way realignment moving forward, others around the ‘horseshoe’ also had concerns.

“There’s a very short space to get yourself from the left lane over to the right lane to make the turn to go up to Costco,” pointed out Councillor Margot Middleton.  “So unless someone’s really savvy, knows what they’re doing and is in the right place, I can see that the double left-hand turn lane can become a bigger safety issue.”

Both Sarai and Middleton did also question whether concerns about traffic backups could be solved through a longer duration of the existing left turn signal at the intersection.

“They [Ministry of Transportation and Transit] determine how much ‘green time’ do we give to the left turn.  But also, one of the things that usually in traffic engineering they will consider is how it affects other movements, because it could potentially let the others [area roadways] back up,” pointed out Transportation Engineer Nii Noi Akuetteh in response.

Despite now being prioritized by the City, the Capital Projects team says the timing of when the work might begin next year will have to be done in consultation with the Province, as it is the owner and operator of the off-ramp and intersection requiring the work.

The stated need for the work is based on traffic backups on to the TransCanada as drivers wait for the current, single left-turn signal to access Pacific Way.