New Fencing Installed Along Highway 97

PRINCE GEORGE – It’s an eye-catching addition to the median in front of the College of New Caledonia. The Ministry of Transportation has installed a six-foot fence between 22nd Avenue and 18th Avenue.

earlier this summer, a young College of New Caledonia student was struck by a vehicle and killed while crossing the highway. The Ministry began to look at its options for deterring students from the practice.
 
“We asked students what could potentially be a good solution to make [the highway] better,” explains Harman Dandiwal, a representative of the students at CNC. “There were a bunch of ideas but we think this is the best.”

But, as was noted by one City Councillor, that isn’t the only location where people cross the highway against traffic. People frequently do so at the Spruceland Mall. Brian Skakun says, years ago, he brought of the possibility of a remedy.

“What would it cost to get an underpass or overpass here? What kind of partnership could we form with the Province because this is a provincial highway? The latest number I’ve heard could be upwards of nearly $4 million to get some sort of pedestrian underpass. I don’t think it would be that costly because when we built the one at the end of Strathcona, at the end of the Heritage Trail, that was done for under a million dollars.”