Planned improvements on Highway 5 not enough: Barriere mayor

After several fatal collisions last year, long-awaited improvements are coming to Highway 5, north of Kamloops, but local municipal leaders are calling on the province to invest on more upgrades along the highway.

Concerns have been mounting over the stretch of the road between Kamloops and Clearwater, about 125 kilometres north of the city, for months. 

B.C. Highway Patrol confirmed to CBC News, it recorded eight collisions and 15 fatalities along the highway last year alone.

In a previous interview with CBC News, Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell attributed the deadly collisions to speeding drivers and a lack of traffic enforcement. 

Last week, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced it is building a dedicated Commercial Vehicle and Safety Enforcement (CVSE) pullout on the Highway 5 North corridor, 12 kilometres south of Barriere, to facilitate increased commercial vehicle inspections, according to a ministry press release. 

In addition to the pullout, the province will install cameras between Kamloops and Avola, about 190 kilometres northeast of the city, that will calculate average speeds. Ministry staff said the cameras are intended solely for research purposes and not for speed enforcement.

Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer said the proposed changes may not go far enough in addressing safety concerns on the notorious stretch of road.

"A lot of it is like putting lipstick on a pig," he told CBC News. "Just because you [put] a bunch of flashing lights up doesn't necessarily mean it's any safer."

In its recently released budget plan, the province earmarked $15 billion over the next three years to improve transportation infrastructure, including more than $900 million for improvements along Highway 1 through the Fraser Valley and from Kamloops to the Alberta border. 

The province didn't disclose how much funds it has allocated for Highway 5 North but it is investing $2.2 million for the CVSE inspection pullout. 

"It's peanuts compared to [the budget] for Highway 1," Stamer said. 

"If we [had that] level of infrastructure spending ... a lot of these situations we're having right now would be alleviated."

In an email statement to CBC News, the ministry said, "Highways 1 and 5N are different corridors that each have their own specific challenges, which makes comparing the two budgets challenging."

Added passing lanes, dashcams requested

Stamer, along with other North Thompson leaders, including Clearwater's mayor, met with Transportation Minister Rob Fleming to voice their concerns last month. Among the requests made during the meeting were additional passing lanes, a truck stop, mandatory dashcams for road users and a more robust enforcement strategy.

"We will keep pushing for enforcement because that seems to be the only thing that's slowing some of these vehicles down," Stamer said. 

The province says it will continue working collaboratively with local leaders on making the stretch of the road as safe as possible.

"We have worked with them, listened to them, and implemented many of their ideas," a ministry spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC News. 

The ministry said it is considering requiring dashcams on all commercial vehicles operating in B.C.