US EditionOkanagan MPs, MLAs push to pave FSR as Highway 97 backup route
Okanagan politicians seek federal and provincial funding to pave 201 Forest Service Road as an emergency backup after multiple Highway 97 closures stranded thousands, officials said.
- Amid repeated Highway 97 closures, six Okanagan MPs and MLAs gathered outside MP Dan Albas’s office to urge paving the 201 Forest Service Road as a backup route.
- A police incident on Aug. 11 shut Highway 97 after impacts related to the W.R. Bennett Bridge, and the Peachland wildfire in late July closed Highways 97 and 97C, causing evacuations.
- Many motorists rely on the unpaved 201 FSR during closures, but vehicles have gotten stuck in snow, requiring rescue, including a boat ferry to Kelowna General Hospital.
- Okanagan MPs and MLAs want the federal government to reimburse half of the $23.2 million contract to pave 201 FSR, and Dan Albas plans to raise it with the federal transportation minister.
- Politicians say FSR 201 could become a vital lifeline, as the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Transportation and Transit already coordinate emergency routes.
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Leaning Left11Leaning Right0Center0Last UpdatedBias Distribution100% Left
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