As most residents of the Lower Similkameen know highway construction at Yellow Lake continues into the tenth month - and with it so do the traffic delays.
The latest official word - stated during discussions with local fishermen over the Yellow Lake mid - lake pullouts - was for completion in late September.
It certainly looks like that won’t be the case - at least not under the present state of construction.
Come to think of it, we’ve been given repeatedly wrong completion dates for this project since its inception last year. Originally, the work was supposed to start and finish last year - and almost every month since, the completion date has changed.
As many Similkameen commuters know, the daily delays are getting tiresome. It will be a momentous day indeed when the road work is finally complete.
For a project that appears to be well managed and professionally worked, we are perplexed at the seemingly complete lack of predictability with respect to announcing a meaningful completion date.
How is it possible that management could be so far off on their predictions? One would have a hard time believing that incompetence was a factor - so that would lead us to conclude that the inaccurate completion date predictions being made sbecause there might have been more public discontent - earlier on in the project - at the prospect of more than three quarters of a year’s worth of daily commuting delays.
At any rate, it appears that for many commuters, exasperation is building. One can only hope that the latest prediction is an honest attempt to be truthful about something that is beginning to test the patience of many of the region’s motorists.