Cyling trail under highway will be safer, but more needs to be done, says UBCO prof

A newly completed trail under Highway 97 will mean safer access to the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus for cyclists, but some say more needs to be done to connect UBCO to the city.

The City of Kelowna officially opened the Bulman Road UBC Connector trail on Tuesday. The four-meter-wide pathway passes under the highway and connects the Hollywood Road/John Hindle Drive roundabout to Bulman Road.

At the official opening, Kelowna-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr said the trail will provide “people-power access for this community.” That will mean fewer risks for cyclists and less trespassing on private property.

The path took six weeks to build, after a planning period that Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran said spanned eight years, and was a “long time coming.”

The $1.1 million project was funded through the Government of Canada Gas Tax Fund, with the city chipping in $100,000.

Edward Butz, a professor at UBCO, said he’s been waiting for the connector for 20 years.

“This is great,” he said. “Now there should be a lot more kids riding to school.”

Rebecca Tyson is an associate professor in mathematics at UBCO. She says she is “very glad the tunnel has been built,” as it provides much safer access to campus, but that it is only one step to providing better access for cyclists.

“Now that the worst problem is gone, some of the other problems are top of mind,” she added.

She pointed out that the Bulman Road connector is "fantastic" for cyclists living in the Rutland area, but west of the highway “there is no access: none.”

Previously, cyclists used Curtis Road as a major route off campus. However, a handful of residents living on the private road won a court case recently banning all use by the university.

Now, Tyson says cyclists looking to get to campus from the Mission area, downtown and westside regions of the city face a long detour, with several dangerous sections. She estimated that only about a quarter to a third of the city is served by the new connector.

She reiterated how having a safe route through the Bulman Road Connector is “a hell of a lot better than nothing,” but that “only the diehards” outside of the Rutland area will use it.

She said one solution would be for the city fast-track construction of the Okanagan Rail trail from Dilworth Drive to the UBCO campus.

Having that completed “right away,” she said, would serve the downtown area, and a number of people coming from the west.

She also said a temporary pass from Glenmore Drive to campus would really help, now that Curtis Road is off limits.