Councillors would like to see a dangerous goods route through Tranquille Road eventually be re-routed.
Kamloops councillor Mike O’Reilly addressed that topic while council was discussing the traffic management plan for the North Shore.
“I would think that should probably be a key point in there, of moving the dangerous goods route. When we talk about Tranquille, and that’s sort of an accident waiting to happen, Ord Road really isn’t that much safer. With really minimal exit points,” he says.
“As much as you want to make a walkable environment, if you have freight trucks running down the middle of the streets, it’s just not going to happen.”
Councillor Dieter Dudy says the population is growing along Tranquille Road. “And a lot of people are showing some very great concerns for something possibly happening at some point in time. And it would have devastating effects.”
The Transportation Master Plan says Ord Road should be evaluated to see if upgrades would make it a feasible route for trucks carrying dangerous goods, saying if it feasible, it could connect to Highway 5 via the Halston bridge, and replace the existing route down Tranquille Road and Fortune Drive
The city also says a new bridge near the Kamloops Airport is in the long-term plans, and truck traffic using that route will be considered.
Director of development services Marvin Kwiatkowski says that’s one of several projects that could help re-route truck traffic from more urban areas.
“So we’re looking at things like the Hillside Connector; we’re concerned about costs on that project, so we want to see what could come about with the modelling if we have the Hillside Connector, if we don’t have it. And also looking at a potential truck route in connection with that second crossing. Going up Domtar’s property and connecting to Highway 1.”
Right now, while planning is in very early stages, Kwiatkowski says a new bridge over the Thompson River could connect from around Crestline Street in Brocklehurst to Mission Flats Road, near Domtar.
Kamloops city staff will begin studying later this year for where to build a new bridge, and, eventually, will be protecting land along the proposed route.
“Some of the work we’re going to be doing all kind of together, because I think it all kind of bodes together in looking at safety, looking at truck routes, looking at getting the large transport trucks out of our downtown… It’s all kind of tied together and we’re looking at all of those issues,” Kwiatkowski says.
The Official Community Plan says a new bridge is “crucial” in the long-term, but it doesn’t actually call for it to be built between now and 2039; the OCP says a bridge should be built when the city’s population reaches 120,000.
(Below: A map of the current dangerous goods route through Kamloops)