Open letter to Council and MLAs about Harvey

Dear Council and Kelowna MLAs

In the wake of the tragic death of the woman who was walking along Harvey and then suddenly struck and killed by a person driving their car. We at Strong Towns are demanding this be the last time we see a death on Harvey. We are writing to urge Council and Kelowna’s MLAs to work together to push the province to create some measure of traffic calming and pedestrian protections along Harvey.

Harvey is 37 metres wide and the shoulder lanes are nearly double the recommended width of 3.6 metres. Wide lanes are proven to encourage drivers to speed and to make risky manoeuvres as they give a false sense of safety to drivers. Harvey is also lined with entrances to businesses, which creates many conflict points on a road that is designed for high speeds. Mixing high-speed traffic and pedestrians results in unavoidable dangers to pedestrians and means that simple mistakes and lapses in judgement can cause serious injury and death. Pedestrians and high speed traffic are not compatible.

Traffic along HWY 97 is so bad it can be difficult to see the value of traffic calming. However, shaving minutes off a commute is never worth the cost of a life, especially since we know from the 2024 budget(page 156) that Kelowna loses more money on traffic deaths and injuries than it loses on traffic delays. This is not a cost of doing business, dangerous roads optimized for speed do not provide a return on investment. This must be the last time we see another member of our community die on Harvey. We have to look beyond blame, and see what are the factors of the design that led to this fatal mistake happening.

We are not suggesting a full rebuild of the Highway. We are suggesting using paint and temporary materials used during construction to keep workers safe to be used to keep pedestrians safe until Harvey is up for redesign. The placement of these traffic calming measures should dissuade drivers from going any faster than 50kmph.

Suggestions:

• Repaint the lines such that each lane is no more than 3.6 metres wide, and use plastic barriers to stop drivers from driving in the extra buffer space on the shoulders.
• Use Paint and bollards to narrow the slip lanes; bollards can be flexible so wider vehicles can still move through
• Place heavy duty bollards to protect where pedestrians are waiting to cross the highway

None of these suggestions require pouring concrete. They are cheap and can be done in a matter of weeks. We don’t need a study — we need boots on the ground with measuring tapes, paint, and bollards.

The cost of inaction is too high. That woman did not have to be killed, and we have to do something to make sure no one else does. 

Respectfully yours,

Isaiah Paget – Conversation Leader – Strong Towns Kelowna