The MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson is calling on the provincial government to turn its attention to safety upgrades on Highway 5, north of Kamloops.

Peter Milobar says a “fairly consistent” push to add things like passing lanes came to a stop in 2017 with the change in government.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Milobar says he was told the government needed to study and re-evaluate that highway corridor again.

“That corridor has been studied so many times now, its ridiculous. Well, here we are five-six years later and still no money in the budget, no new projects announced,” he said.

“I think really that is what the people in the valley want to see, is a consistent methodical approach of targeting problem areas one after the other [where we] get back to that kind of yearly addition each time of critical passing lanes or corners being straightened out.”

Milobar’s comments came as four people – including a baby – were killed in two separate crashes on the highway in a 15 hour span last week.

Natalie Evans, her mother, Daphne, and four-week old Troy Jr. were killed in a crash with a semi in Vinsulla just before 11 a.m. on June 16. Around 8:20 the night before, RCMP say the passenger in a pickup truck was killed in a head-on crash with a semi-truck in Darfield.

“I’m not trying to say that either of these two accidents would have been changed with passing lanes but there is dangerous passing that does happen,” Milobar said.

“People get impatient, especially if you get behind a bigger truck, but when you know there a routine passing lane coming up, people are more likely to wait for the passing lane.”

Milobar says unlike the Trans Canada Highway east of Kamloops to the Alberta border, Highway 5 north of the city likely won’t ever be four-laned because of some pinch points and some very narrow sections.

But he also pointed to an area just south of Darfield where there is a “sloughing of the highway that creates almost a roller coaster if you hit it a little too fast,” admitting though it will likely be a very expensive fix.

“I think people that live up and down that valley are understanding [that there won’t be four lanes of highway] but what they do expect and what they are waiting and hoping for is those continual targeted safety improvements – be it unsafe corners or be it adding of a passing lane in certain sections – to try to minimize the frustration that drivers feel and to see that continual improvement year over year-over-year,” he said.

“The key piece here is we need to get back to having that yearly investment and improvements into this corridor but it has been the better part of about six years and we haven’t seen any work of any significance whatsoever on that stretch of highway.”