North Thompson Valley elected officials, residents and supporters are determined to have their voices heard by government before another family sheds tears over the loss of their loved ones on Highway 5.
On Dec. 14 North Thompson officials met with road maintenance management in Kamloops just two weeks after the most recent head-on double fatal on Highway 5 on Dec. 2 near Little Fort.
Using their frustration and grief as a collective voice, the partners in the North Thomspon including Kúkpi7 George Lampreau of Simpcw First Nation, mayor Ward Stamer of Barriere, and mayor Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater decided to take proactive measures months ago scheduling a meeting about winter highway maintenance and safety concerns.
The meeting with the road maintenance contractor management of Argo and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) was held in the Argo boardroom in Kamloops to brainstorm ideas and come up with viable solutions focused on improving safety and reducing risk to drivers during the winter months.
Speaking with Black Press immediately following the meeting, mayor Stamer said there will be some changes right away.
“They will be changing the speed zone at Fishtrap Canyon to 80 km/h by this weekend. That is good news. Argo is working in everyone’s best interest because they have families just like we have. Last year was challenging for them due to a huge turnover in experience. You don’t just gain 25 years in the seat in one year of working the roads. They seem to have more stability in the ranks and more experience behind the wheel with all of the equipment running well and that is also positive.”
The working group were in agreement that a better program needs to be in place in the event of another highway fatality or serious crash on Highway 5 in the future that could potentially close the road in both directions for a long period of time.
“Our discussion involved the question of getting a proper detour between our communities so there is now an understanding that we will be talking with our first responders, our fire departments, the ministry of transportation, and Argo to see if we can up our game with regards to a safer detour if one is available with better maintenance on the side roads. There is certainly good cooperation between the three of us; Simpcw, Barriere and Clearwater as well as the ministry for that.”
Describing the meeting topics Stamer continued, “Chief Lampreau voiced his concerns about numerous choke points along the highway there including the Darfield ‘jumps’ saying it has to become more of a priority to fix sooner than later.”
The mayor of Barriere identified a few examples during the meeting for emphasis on the lack of funding allocated to the North Thompson for major highway infrastructure improvements.
“The province has spent $1.3 billion on Highway 1 but what have they spent on Highway 5? The Sicamous bridge is getting replaced for $221 million, $90 million of which is federal money. What are they spending on Highway 5? We are going to be pushing government as much as we can to get our fair share.”
After the meeting Kúkpi7 Lampreau once again expressed the dedication Simpcw First Nation has as a “good neighbour” in the valley, saying, “Simpcw is working together with the mayors of the valley to ensure we are all safe on the highways.”
Kúkpi7 Lampreau and the mayors of Barriere, Clearwater, Valemount and McBride are planning a special event in the new year where they will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) together as a commitment to their partnership to work “collectively” on initiatives concerning highway safety, wildfire mitigation and sustainable economic development.
In a comment to Black Press following the meeting regarding winter maintenance and safety, mayor Blackwell stated, “Sadly this meeting, although prearranged, comes soon after another senseless and devastating double fatal on Highway 5. We are determined as a team to support yet another family in the valley having lost their loved ones. We will continue to push for immediate achievable management on Highway 5 and continue to work with MoTI and Argo in controlling the emergency detours during highway closures. The commitment is to discuss how municipal staff or maybe our volunteer firefighters can assist in road checkpoints if Argo or MoTI staff are unavailable or required elsewhere. It’s mostly about keeping large commercial vehicles or vehicles that shouldn’t be on these goat trail backroads from attempting to use them during emergencies.”
The ”three amigos” as mayor Stamer refers to the valley partners, recently invited Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) Director for Area “A”, Usoff Tsao to sit in on the pre-planned meeting as well. Tsao has been a vocal advocate, especially since the most recent double fatal has impacted a local Clearwater family.
When asked how he felt about the meeting, Tsao told Black Press, “I’m very thankful to have been invited to the meeting and for Chief Lampreau and the mayors allowing me to attend in support as the TNRD director for Area “A”. This meeting came about due to their push with the ministry of transportation for highway maintenance and safety upgrades. It was brought up that CVSE presence needs to be continued and there are upgrades being planned to have more truck stops and we were updated on a list of projects that Argo Road Maintenance and the ministry of transportation is looking at for Highway 5.
“We talked about the tragic outcome from the double fatal during the meeting and of members of our communities who will be dearly missed.”
Tsao added he believes Argo is “doing all they can and are very efficient and they are constantly coming up with new suggestions back to MoTI locally and bouncing off ideas for better contract management and equipment as well ” mentioning he believes they are also being more transparent and accountable due to having GPS trackers on all of their plows as an example.
“It would be great if we had enough money to have a massive fleet for our contractors but they are doing the best they can with the contract they have been given. So it’s up to elected officials local and provincial to advocate for us in the North Thompson.” said the director.
Blackwell summed it up saying, “It was a good meeting. We on the elected side got to vent some significant concerns about the under-funding of improvements on the highway. MoTI got to explain why some things like the Darfield jump are taking so long to fix. I left the room much better informed, but also very aware of what items need to be taken to the cabinet level for advocacy.”
Not long after the meeting concluded with local officials in Kamloops, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Rob Fleming along with Dave Earle from the B.C. Trucking Association held a news conference which began by addressing recent infrastructure collisions in the Lower Mainland such as over height vehicles damaging bridges. The announcement also targeted stricter measures directly related to all B.C. highways with Fleming stating, “We are also going to detour trucks from excessive speeding and moving dangerously fast on our road networks. We are bringing in new regulations to require trucks to have speed limiters. This will improve safety by preventing heavy commercial vehicles from traveling more than 105 kilometers per hour on B.C.’s highways. There will be new fines for non-compliance after the new requirements take effect on April 5th in the new year.”
Fleming commented on the “relationship” the province has with the B.C. Trucking Association with plans to “bring in mandatory entry level training as a new requirement to help all new commercial vehicle drivers to increase their professionalism, improve their road safety, their air brake knowledge, their ability to chain up vehicles properly and drive through all seasons of weather that we experience here in British Columbia.” The minister added the current provincial government has in his view “the toughest, strongest most comprehensive Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT) in the country” mentioning the use of electronic logging devices aimed at reducing driver fatigue while reducing accidents as a result and saying, “Even with the new tools and technology there is a need for increased enforcement on the roads.”
