Westside Road is the major connecting corridor along the west side of Okanagan Lake north of West Kelowna, BC. The BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is investing $45 million over 5 years to improve safety along Westside Road in staged upgrades that involve design work to widen and realign problematic sections.
Associated Environmental has been at the forefront of these upgrades carrying out all of the pre-design Environmental Assessments for six road segments south of Fintry to date. We evaluated the baseline environmental conditions within the project footprints and evaluated and qualified environmental values within a 200-m radius of the proposed project alignments using a combination of GIS with field inventory and assessment. Because the climate in the Okanagan Region is unique to BC, rare wildlife, plants, and ecosystems are often the focus of environmental assessments.
We conducted habitat assessments and developed computerized models to determine critical habitat for bats, completed detailed surveys to identify critical habitat features for reptiles, and conducted surveys to document occurrence or potential occurrence of rare plants along Westside Road. The potential impacts of the projects on the environment and wildlife were quantified, and recommendations for mitigation were proposed based on provincial and federal regulations, best management practices, and observations of field conditions at the site.