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Council Report: Take a drive across the new Salmon River bridge

Cooperation of many led to construction of Salmon Arm West project
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This map shows the full build out of the Salmon Arm West project on Highway 1. (Contributed)

By Salmon Arm Mayor Alan Harrison

By now you may have driven across the new bridge over the Salmon River.

I know we had to make a trip to try it out!

Although the Salmon Arm West Trans-Canada Highway project is not finished yet, the new bridge has been opened to traffic, to allow the building of the second traffic circle on the south side. This traffic circle is being built on a section of the old highway.

Large capital projects like this take the work and cooperation of many. Salmon Arm city councils, lead initially by the late Mayor Marty Bootsma, and subsequently by Mayor Nancy Cooper, lobbied hard for these improvements. Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo played an important role in highlighting the safety needs on this section of highway. With North Okanagan-Shuswap MP Mel Arnold’s support, the federal government joined the B.C. government’s 50/50 funding formula to pay the $180 million dollar project cost.

When the project is complete, there will be frontage roads from First Nations Road through to 10th Ave. SW. This will allow local traffic to move from Gleneden, Neskonlith Lands and the Salmon Valley into the Piccadilly Mall area, without having to access the highway.

The city will adopt the maintenance of the 4.2-kilometre frontage roads, while the province continues to be responsible for the highway.

In addition, the city has taken the opportunity to upgrade our water and sewer infrastructure during this construction.

Included in this project is an active transportation trail for pedestrians, scooters and bicycles, allowing safe movement separated from the highway. Key input from the Shuswap Trail Alliance helped make this happen.

Not only will this project make traffic flow smoother and safer in years to come, it has also provided an important economic boost for Salmon Arm during pandemic times.

While the main contractor is Springline Construction from Delta, many local businesses have been subcontracted to work on the project. In addition, Springline staff have stayed in local hotels, and ate in local restaurants during these quieter tourist seasons.

This project is expected to be completed this fall. An official opening of the bridge and new highway will take place at that time.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a short drive, try out the new bridge. After crossing the bridge heading west, you can exit the highway from the off-ramp, drive around the completed north traffic circle, go through the underpass and back past DeMille’s and Pedros into town.

Read more: UPDATE: Shift to new Salmon River bridge delayed

Read more: Transportation minister: Salmon Arm West Highway 1 project more than 50% complete



newsroom@saobserver.net
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