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A car drives down Knox Mountain Park Road. (Photo John McDonald)
By John McDonald
Striking a blow against the automobile’s dominance, Kelowna council has agreed to a trial period where car access will be cut back to Knox Mountain Park.
As soon as city crews can get up some signage and possibly a survey drop box, likely by mid-April, the road into the park will begin opening at 9:30 a.m. and closing at 9 p.m., according to park services manager Ian Wilson.
“We need to do some communication with the public and get the word out,” he added.
Council went past the recommendation from Wilson and agreed the road will remain closed until noon on Sundays for the rest of the trial period ending in August.
Wilson had suggested the road open at 9 a.m. but councillors added half an hour to give pedestrians time to clear the narrow, winding two-lane road that serves each spring as the race course for the Knox Mountain Hill Climb.
Wilson’s recommendations were based on surveys of parks users and automobile counts conducted last year. The road has proven to be popular with pedestrians and cyclists during its annual winter closure from November to March.
Traffic disruption is expected to be light. Wilson said the surveys showed 95 per cent of car trips into the park happened between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday had the lightest car traffic of the week.
An added benefit is security, with the park road closing an hour earlier.
“There were very few going up there anyway after 9 and the ones that were tended to be less desirable traffic,” Wilson said.
john@kelowna.com
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Tags: ian wilson, John McDonald, knox mountian park, pedestrians kelowna council
