A long-term plan to widen Highway 97 in Kelowna, B.C., has taken a step forward but major questions remain about cost, timing, and how much private property could be affected.
City council approved the Highway 97 Right-of-Way Protection Plan Monday, which aims to preserve space for a possible future expansion of the 14-km highway corridor.
The concept would add two transit-only lanes to the existing six lanes between the William R. Bennett Bridge and UBC Okanagan — a project staff say could be 20 years away.
The proposed widening would require a 50-metre right-of-way along the highway corridor, meaning land may eventually need to be secured from affected property owners and developers.
The city says the goal of the protection plan is to guide future development and ensure new projects do not create additional barriers to a potential widening.
“We can work around what we have now but we want to make sure we don’t have more obstacles in the way,” Brittany Hallam, Integrated Transportation Manager with the City of Kelowna, told council.
Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas said the city wants to begin conversations early and be transparent with property owners who could be affected.
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“That’s why we want to get ahead of it, because if this takes place and happens and we’re not communicating and being transparent about it, then stories will start to develop on how it is and we don’t want that to happen,” Dyas said.
Ron Cannan was the only councillor to vote against it.
Cannan questioned whether the long-term vision is realistic.
“For example, Highway 97 in Gordon — it’s congested. How are you going to buy all those buildings? It’s not going to be millions, tens. It’s going to be billions of dollars,” Cannan said.
Cannan said the city should focus instead on more immediate solutions to reduce congestion, including improving traffic signal timing and removing bottlenecks.
“We need something that’s concrete now,” Cannan said. “Synchronization of the … signalization of the lights, maybe removing a signal light or two, moving traffic through.”
In an email to Global News, the Ministry of Transportation stated, “The Ministry of Transportation and Transit and the City of Kelowna are working closely to determine the best approach to protect the corridor over time.”
The email went on to say, “There are no plans to expropriate property and any future expansion of the highway right-of-way would happen over time through development applications.”
City staff will now begin discussions with potentially affected property owners and report back to council in early 2027.
The project remains in the early planning stages, with no construction timeline, cost estimate, or committed funding currently in place.
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