The stretch of Highway 16 between the Yellowhead Bridge and Boundary Road has seen several collisions

By Tommy Osborne

Highway Petition

“It was pretty traumatic:” calls for improved highway safety increase as collisions continue

Dec 13, 2024 | 4:44 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – An online petition calling for change on Highway 16 is picking up steam, as its nearing 900 signatures as of December 13. The stretch of highway between the Yellowhead Bridge and Boundary Road has been known to be a dangerous area with many collisions, a fact Prince George Mayor Simon Yu is unfortunately all too familiar with.

“One of my family’s dearest friends died along this stretch of road. Their family was never the same after,” Yu said.

Yu has long been an advocate for change, pushing the province to finally build a ring road to lessen traffic in the area. However, the petition itself has a much more specific focus. Started by Prince George resident Natalie Anthony, she explained she witnessed a dear get hit by a car and was with it as it died.

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“It just suffered, and it was gasping and it took its last breaths, and that was just really traumatic,” Anthony said.

“It was a different experience to see an animal actually suffering to death, instead of just seeing a dead animal, which is also really sad. But to witness the animal suffering was really sad. And then when I went home, I heard that another deer had been hit there in the same spot within a couple hours, and that’s when I decided it’s time to act,” she added.

“If one person gets injured, one animal gets injured along this stretch of highway, it really is not acceptable because is a preventable thing,” Yu said.

The petition hopes to see improved safety measures like improved lighting and wildlife signs, as Anthony explains that highway stretch is known to be very dark, and can be especially hazardous around curves or when it’s foggy.

“Some added lights there would help drivers, give them a couple extra seconds to see a deer or an animal on the side of the road, give them a couple extra seconds to react, and seconds can save lives,” Anthony said.

As for what Yu wants to see, he also wants to see safety improvements on that stretch, but he is aiming for much bigger goals.

“One of the things I would like to see is the completion of the bridge of the Boundary Road to have a ring road so the traffic from Highway 16 through to Prince Rupert won’t have to go through the centre of our city,” Yu said.

“The hill is very steep as well, but until such a time we complete that Boundary Road extension as well as the bridge, the traffic from the west to east is not able to maneuver other than to go through Queensway and Victoria. Our citizens have been looking at this for years,” he continued.

Highways are a provincial government responsibility, meaning the City of Prince George won’t be the ones to fix this. However, Yu said he will do what he can, which includes continuing to lobby to the provincial government, and working with City Council to prepare a report on the issues with that stretch of Highway 16.

“We really need the MOT (Minister of Transportation Mike Farnworth) and the Premier to take a look at this and say ‘hey, look, is this acceptable if this is down in the Lower Mainland? Would you let that big truck go through such a stretch of highway?” Yu said.

“We really need to use this petition as an advocacy piece, which I’m going to present it to the intergovernmental committee to formulate a well researched work,” he continued.

CKPG News reached out to the office of Minister Farnworth, but received no comment.

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