Changes to Highway 97's Carson and Toop intersections will impact the entire community, Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook said Friday as she encouraged residents to attend a public meeting about proposed changes slated for Monday, Oct. 28.
Staff from the city and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure will host the meeting and answer questions from the public in a format for everyone to be engaged at one time.
“The city encourages all residents to come take part in this forum as we will be discussing important road connections in our network,” Cook said. “Access to residences, businesses and the hospital affects us all.”
In hopes to encourage attendance to the meeting, the city has mailed 6,000 flyers with maps and information for residents and businesses.
City manager of planning and operations Geoff Goodall configuration on the highway is the same in both options.
At various open houses this past summer the options have been viewed by the public.
Goodall said the signalized intersection would be removed at Carson Drive, while Toop Road would become part of a full functional and signalized intersection.
"In option one at Carson Drive we're maintaining everything that is there today," Goodall said. "There are some slight configuration changes with Ninth Avenue teeing into McKinnon a little differently, but it is generally the same."
What will change is the way drivers exit Carson Drive.
Drivers will be able to make a right turn out onto the highway but will not be able to make a left, he explained.
"If people want to go left on the highway, they will have to travel down McKinnon and onto the highway through the Toop intersection."
To turn left on Carson while travelling north, drivers will have a protected left lane due to a raised median.
The median will protect vehicles from rear traffic or a head-on collision, Goodall said.
And the entrance to North Broadway would no longer exist, he added.
Option two also involves McKinnon Road and 11th Avenue, but extends to directing traffic flow down Johnson Street.
"At the Toop intersection we've shown a direct connection on to Johnson," Goodall said. "The movement is also changed on to McKinnon. McKinnon becomes right in and right out."
There would also be a cul-de-sac installed on 10th Avenue so there would no longer be a connection between 10th Avenue and Johnson.
City council has to make a decision on how the project will link to city roads and wants the public to view the options and weigh in.
Copies of the options are on the city's website.
The meeting will take place at the Cariboo Memorial Complex in the Gibraltar Room from 7 to 8:30 p.m.