Vernon City Council receiving the new Transportation plan at the regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 24 (photo by Liam Verster/Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

20-Year Transportation Plan

Vernon Council adopts Transportation Plan that includes 170 projects

Nov 27, 2025 | 2:27 PM

The City of Vernon has outlined nearly 200 projects to improve how people move through the community over the next two decades.

At the regular meeting on Monday, Vernon City Council received the new Transportation Plan, which would replace the previous 25-Year Master Transportation Plan.

The document outlines the framework for transportation planning, infrastructure investment, and implementation over the next 20 years.

The framework aimed to hit four goals of establishing a strong foundation for road safety; making it easier to get around on transit and by walking, biking and rolling; being prepared for the future by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilient infrastructure; and optimizing curb spaces.

To accomplish those goals, the plan outlined 170 major and minor projects to undertake over the coming decades.

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The major projects, of which there were 27 listed in the plan, included:

• Corridor upgrades to Alexis Park Drive, Anderson Way, 24th Street, 27th Street, 34th Street, 42nd Avenue, 48th Avenue, 33rd Street, and Okanagan Avenue (short-medium-, and long-term projects)
• Multi-use paths on 43rd Avenue, Pottery Road, Bella Vista Road, and Pleasant Valley Road
• Upgrades to key intersections (short-, medium-, and long-term projects)
• Upgrades to the Downtown Vernon transit exchange and pedestrian plaza (medium-term project)
• Construction of an outdoor elevator/hillside tram to connect Polson Park and Jubilee Hill (long-term project)
• Future Active Transportation planning (long-term project)

The minor transportation projects were also broken down by timeline, as well as by infrastructure type.

There were 35 bike infrastructure projects in the plan, ranging from creating both protected and painted bike lanes to traffic calming measures to building new multi-use path/cycle tracks.

The plan outlined 73 sidewalk projects that involved building walkable shoulders, separated sidewalks, and non-separated sidewalks throughout the city.

The remaining 30 minor projects had to do with road and intersection upgrades. Those included improving intersection sight lines and pedestrian refuge space, shoulder widening, emergency access upgrades, road improvements, and signal and signage renewals and enhancements.

Upon receiving the report, Councillor Akbal Mund complimented the number of projects, particularly those for pedestrians.

“I read through [the plan] twice, and I was really happy with what I saw, especially the over 70 sidewalk projects that we’ve put in here because, as we know, if we’re not going to be using a car, we’re going to be using those sidewalks,” Mund said at Monday’s meeting.

“To see that many already in here is great, and [addressing the safety concerns] of people walking those streets where they don’t have sidewalks, excellent job.”

The plan included updated maps for all modes of transportation that outlined missing connections and identified ways to better link areas within the city.

The first work to be done under this plan in 2026 would be to address concerns about safety raised through the public engagement processes with the development of a Road Safety Toolkit, proposing a change to the Development Cost Charges bylaw to help fund the infrastructure projects, and starting the design work for the projects planned for the short term.

Councillor Teresa Durning also the inclusion of the Road Safety Toolkit in the plan seemed to be needed.

“The most requested, in my opinion, issue for our citizens was safety on the roads, both walking and rolling, cycling, and even driving in the city,” Durning said at Monday’s meeting.

“There’s a lot of complaints regarding safety, and I think you really put your best foot forward in addressing as many of those issues as you could in this document and I’m really pleased to see that and I hope that we’re able to action all of those really crucial items and [make] the city a safer place because of that.”

The plan, which aligns with the new Official Community Plan, and its project list was also noted to be flexible and could be adjusted or refocused to meet the evolving needs of the community, pilot projects, or the implementation of new technologies in the future.

Vernon City Council received and adopted the plan at Monday’s meeting.