Highway 5 safety issues continue to be a serious topic of discussion amongst the working partners and residents along this corridor. The working group which includes Simpcw First Nation and the municipalities of Barriere, Clearwater, Valemount and McBride have what Mayor Merlin Blackwell terms as the “full support” of the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) on these critical concerns.
Local Clearwater resident, Jamie Brassard a mother of three, who turns off the highway 5 intersection at Jenkins Road to the residential area there, fears for her family’s safety, saying, “We had another close call recently with vehicles passing us on both sides with our kids in the car. I fear for my kids because it is too dangerous to even walk across to the other side to go see their friends. If there was a cross walk with lights above showing highway drivers there is a residential area here it would serve as a warning that people live on both sides of the road. Our kids school bus turns on to the highway there off Jenkins and it’s becoming frightening with out-of-town traffic not realizing that we use the highway to get to school, town, and appointments in Clearwater daily.”
Hearing the frustrations from Clearwater residents about this and other key intersections, Mayor Blackwell said, “We will keep coming back to these two areas, pleading the case to the Ministry of Highways (MoTI). I don’t know how many times we’ve told them about these two critical areas along the highway. The engineering science that they use doesn’t support the need for improvements there. Because it’s a straight stretch and the visibility there. But there isn’t a passing lane since Messiter heading south from Blue River and heading north since Darfield. Just before you get to Jenkins going north or south it’s very misleading. You can see for such a long time that people get a false sense of confidence that they can beat the vehicle coming at them. ”
Blackwell feels there should be a left-hand turn lane in both directions at Jenkins and he would be in favour of a raised median there.
Another Jenkins Road area long-time resident, Tay Briggs agrees, “There have been many near misses there and fatalities. That long straight stretch combined with people trying to get off the highway is literally an accident waiting to happen. Having witnessed two severe accidents there, one of them fatal, I believe that refusing to upgrade the road there is negligence. Preventing a wife from having to mourn her husband in the middle of the intersection is worth any amount of money to me!”
Blackwell is hoping that with the support of the TNRD board and Highway 5 partners, they will be able to raise the road safety concerns once again in person at the upcoming 2023 Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Vancouver in September. UBCM provides the opportunity for local governments from all areas of the province to come together and meet in person with provincial ministers as well as share ideas and collaborate on solutions and strategies.
“The municipalities of McBride, Valemount, Simpcw First Nation, and Districts of Clearwater and Barriere, are all working on getting individual meetings with the ministers which they have applied for by June 30. We won’t know for a while if our requests are accepted for face-to-face meetings at UBCM in September. If we get a separate meeting with Minister Fleming it will be on highway construction projects and if meeting with Public Safety Minister Farnworth, we would be discussing RCMP and CVSE enforcement as well as cell service along the corridor,” said Blackwell.
The Minister of Transportation, Rob Fleming, has made a commitment before fall, regardless of meeting in person, that there will be another meeting via Zoom regarding the highway 5 safety issues in the North Thompson. Blackwell said, “He’ll be informing us as to what safety improvements they are already working on. That said, Jenkins Road hasn’t been on that list to the best of my knowledge. We will be drawing further attention to those concerns at every opportunity.”