The chief administrative officer in Chase says the village has benefited from four-laning work already done on the Trans-Canada, east of Kamloops.

Joni Heinrich says people in Chase have easier access to Kamloops with expansions of the highway between Monte Creek and Hoffman’s Bluff in recent years.

“Just that part alone has really helped, almost if you can say, shortened the distance between Chase and Kamloops,” she says. “So its really helped our economy, in that we’ve got a lot more interest in residential development and new businesses starting up and that sort of thing.

“Because of those improvements, we’ve seen changes occurring. More people coming into Chase for various economic development reasons, which has been very good for us,” Heinrich says.

Meanwhile, a major project to four-lane the Number One through Chase, a section of 3.1 kilometers, is expected to get underway this summer and be complete in 2021.