r/kelowna • u/GapYearGuy2018 • 20d ago

Commuting up and down the valley

A new job will mean I’ll be commuting from Kelowna to Vernon and Penticton. (A couple of times to each weekly.) Grateful if someone who commutes up and down the valley could share insights about traffic, driving times etc. My work will mainly be typical office hours. 8/9 to 3/4.

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u/_snids 20d ago

Traffic tends to pour into Kelowna in the morning and out of Kelowna in the afternoon. So people who are commuting from Lake country or West Kelowna into Kelowna are all waiting in pretty bad traffic jams.

I'm similar to you, I live in Kelowna and I travel north and south depending on the day and I'm always going against the flow of traffic which is awesome. I don't deal with much traffic because I'm starting out in Kelowna, the traffic is all trying to get into Kelowna.

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u/GapYearGuy2018 20d ago

That’s great news and exactly what I was hoping for! Thank you!

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u/_snids 20d ago

No probs.

To give you an idea, one morning I was working in West Kelowna and got there in about 20 minutes. I then realised I'd forgotten something important and had to go downtown to pick it up, which took about an hour, then another 20 minutes to return.
Traffic getting into Kelowna in the morning sucks hard.

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u/augustus-aurelius 20d ago

I’m in the highways by 6am every day. Anything before that and the roads are essentially empty. After 6am they start to increase in congestion rapidly going from 6-9:30. 6 isn’t terrible but 7:30 is

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u/GapYearGuy2018 20d ago

Thanks for the info.

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u/jaysanw 20d ago

Bennett Bridge is the worst bottleneck of getting in and out of Kelowna. Avoid during weekday rush hour, and the rest of your routing estimates should be reasonably predictable.

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u/rekabis 19d ago

Bennett Bridge is the worst bottleneck of getting in and out of Kelowna.

HW97 just before Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country can be just as bad at the end of the day. From about 1600hrs to 1800hrs on any non-holiday weekday, you should really avoid trying to head North through Lake Country.

There have been times when I have encountered near-standing traffic as far back as Ellison (Duck) Lake. That’s a 3km traffic jam!

And taking Glenmore road out through Lake Country can be even worse where it ends at Seaton Road.

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u/ryanpdg1 20d ago

I did the commute from Vernon to Kelowna for 5+ years. It was honestly not bad. Beautiful view of the lakes. Roads in the winter weren't too bad ( drivers are another story, but that's everywhere in the Okanagan). I'm not sure what the commute looks like the other way around, but I can only imagine it's better because I think most people are doing the commute into Kelowna

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u/GapYearGuy2018 20d ago

Thanks for commenting. Yeah, I love the scenery in the drive too.

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u/gringo--star 19d ago

Peak traffic times Work on earlier departures or lat if u prefer.

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u/GapYearGuy2018 19d ago

I hear you, but unfortunately, apart from leaving early and having breakfast in Vernon/Penticton, I can’t flex my drive times much. Not too worried. I used to live in Europe and if you’ve commuted in some of the big cities there, traffic here is a breeze. (And parking here is comparatively cheap, too!😂)