Victoria is partnering with the City of Kelowna to widen a busy 4.2-kilometre stretch of Highway 33 in the Okanagan city.
The province is providing $11.5 million for the $23.5 million project, which will widen to four lanes a section of the highway where traffic has increased grow to almost 12,000 vehicles a day.
The province's portion of the funding will pay for all the related road improvements, including bike lanes and intersection and street lighting upgrades. The city will cover the cost of curbing, sidewalks, landscaping and storm water management system to improve protection of the city's creeks and streams.
Work is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed by the fall of 2010. The project is expected to create almost 150 jobs.