More improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway between Chase and Salmon Arm are on the province's radar.
Representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure presented a report on several highway projects running through the Shuswap at Columbia Shuswap Regional District's board of directors meeting on July 21.
The recent improvements to the Trans Canada Highway and Sunnybrae Canoe Point Road intersection were the focus of the report but there was also an update on projects contributing to the provincial goal of creating a four-lane highway from Kamloops to the Alberta border.
Murray Tekano, a senior project director with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI), said phases of the four-laning project running from Hoffman's bluff to Chase Creek Road, Chase Creek Road to the west end of Chase and Chase to Jade Mountain have all reached the design stage.
Projects running from Squilax Bridge to Little River Road and at the west end of Salmon Arm are also in the process of being designed.
According to the MOTI website, the phase of the project from Hoffman's Bluff to Chase Creek Road will result in four-laning a five-kilometre stretch of highway, with a median dividing oncoming lanes.
Four lanes and a median are also planned for the section of highway from Chase Creek Road to the west end of Chase, but new frontage roads and access points to the western end of Chase are also planned.
The section from Chase to Jade Mountain remains in the early planning stages but will involve four-laning the highway and improving access to Coburn Street Matteys Road and Shuswap Avenue East.
In addition to the projects that have reached the design phase, improvements to sections of the Trans-Canada Highway from Ford Road to Kault Hill and from Kault Hill to Sandy Point are currently in development.
The projects around Kault Hill will move forward into design and construction stages when funding is approved for them.
"We will continue to monitor this section to address any concerns that arise until future long-term improvements are made," said a MOTI spokesperson.
View the Observer's previous coverage of the Sunnybrae Canoe Point Intersection here: http://www.saobserver.net/news/387837782.html
View the latest on the highway expansion at the west end of Salmon Arm here: http://www.saobserver.net/news/310765051.html