Barriers will be in place on the stretch of highway which claimed the life of a man in Enderby this week. The Ministry of Transport of BC confirms that concrete barriers will be installed from south of the Swan Lake overpass on Highway 97, continuing north for 7.8 kilometers on Highway 97A to Pleasant Valley Road in Spallumcheen. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by Tuesday’s accident,” a ministry spokesman said Friday. “The safety of people on our highways is our number one priority.” The new barriers follow the installation in 2021 of median barriers further north along six kilometers from the intersection of Smith Drive to Pleasant Valley Road. “Design is now complete for the installation of a concrete median barrier beginning south of the Swan Lake overpass on Highway 97 and continuing north for approximately 4.8 miles on Highway 97A to Pleasant Valley Road, creating a continuous barrier against length of this route,” the ministry said. . The new project is expected to go out to tender this summer and be completed in the spring of 2023. Tuesday’s crash near the north end of Swan Lake claimed the life of a 69-year-old Enderby man whose pickup crossed the center line and collided with a dump truck. The tipper driver, shocked by the tragedy, called for barriers to be installed, saying they could have prevented the fatality. “If the barriers were there, they would have stopped him from crossing the center line and maybe saved his life,” Will Oben said Thursday. The 2021 dam installation further north followed another fatal accident in 2019 that claimed the life of Vernon music teacher Ruth Blenko.
