The Regional Transportation Plan will help shape the future of the Central Okanagan Region by identifying the transportation investments that will be needed over the next 20 years. The project is led by the Sustainable Transportation Partnership of the Central Okanagan (STPCO), a collaboration of City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna, District of Lake Country, District of Peachland, Westbank First Nation, and Regional District of the Central Okanagan.

Strengthening economic competitiveness and quality of life

Transportation across the region provides a vital connection to jobs, markets, health care, education, recreation, shopping, emergency services and family and friends.

By 2040, population in the Central Okanagan is expected to increase by nearly 40% – that’s almost 77,000 new residents. Currently, 24% of all trips in the Central Okanagan cross municipal boundaries, as people travel from one community to another to access services and employment.

The issues affecting all our communities – economic competitiveness, air quality, goods movement, emergency response, public health and quality of life – are directly impacted by the transportation choices we make as a region.

Working collaboratively to ensure all communities have a voice in the planning process

The regional planning process will build on work started in 2014. At that time, transportation planners asked residents and elected officials to identify their collective vision and goals for regional transportation.

Over the next 18 months, the STPCO planning team will continue to work with communities across the region to:

• Confirm the vision and goals for regional transportation
• Define the Regional Transportation Network
• Identify and evaluate transportation policies, programs and projects

Establishing a Regional Transportation Network

The first step in preparing the Regional Transportation Plan is to identify the regionally significant activity areas and the multi-modal transportation network that connects them. These are generally destinations that have a high concentration of employment or population, or that people frequently travel across community boundaries to access.

Establishing the Regional Transportation Network is important because it will serve as the foundation for the Regional Transportation Plan. Potential projects, policies and programs related to the multi-modal network will be eligible for evaluation as part of the regional transportation planning process.

Hospitals and major medical facilities, major transportation facilities (e.g. the airport, BC Transit exchanges, Greyhound stations), major sports, recreation, and performing arts facilities, colleges and universities, and secondary French immersion schools, among other locations provide services to the entire Central Okanagan region.

The highway, road, transit, trails, bike and pedestrian routes that connect people to these types of regional services are considered ‘regionally significant’ and may be identified as part of the multi-modal Regional Transportation Network.

Integrating with local and regional planning initiatives

Other transportation and planning work is underway in the Central Okanagan region. The Regional Transportation Plan will be developed within the context of other local and regional planning initiatives such as:

• Central Okanagan Planning Study
• City of Kelowna Transportation Master Plan
• Regional Trails and Bicycling Plan
• Regional Disruptive Mobility Strategy
• Regional Household Travel Survey
• Okanagan Gateway Transportation Study

Definition: "multi-modal"

Multi-modal is a term used to describe more than one mode of travel. It can include transit, walking, biking, hiking and driving among others and can refer to the road or trail infrastructure that supports these activities.