Kelowna's reliance on vehicles is nearly unmatched in the rest of Canada.
That's according to city staff, who cite a survey from the Transportation Association of Canada.
Transportation Manager Rafael Villarreal says this changes how the city plans for new infrastructure.
"The interesting thing about that is that there's going to be a point that it's going to be very difficult for us just to add road infrastructure," he said.
"We're going to have to find other creative ways to optimize the use of our existing infrastructure."
It's all part of staff's new Transportation Master Plan - a draft version will be made available to the public in the coming weeks.
The report is a long-range planning document up until 2040, at which time the city's population is expected to grow by 50,000 people.
Villarreal says public transit is part of the solution, but that it needs to be expanded strategically.
"Public transportation is very expensive. In some areas, it would be unfair to ask people just to take the bus, if driving takes them 20 minutes and we ask them to take a bus which will take them an hour," he said.
"That's a bit unfair, so we're going to have to be very careful how we allocate the resource of public transportation, so it's in the area that makes the most sense. And, it's more effective, so we can offer frequency and reliability."
He says when traffic congestion gets to a certain point, it becomes exponentially worse, which is a line in the sand that staff doesn't want to see drawn in Kelowna.
Villarreal says adding the infrastructure to allow people to change their habits is critical.
"What happens with congestion is once you hit a critical point, it starts to become exponential. And that exponential (increase) can be a really small difference (in added vehicles). So a lot of times, the more people we divert to different modes, and use the infrastructure in a more efficient way, the farther we are from hitting this point that we really don't want to be (in), which is the really bad congestion point," he said.
He says that while public transit and active transportation options are key, so are basic things like encouraging more people to carpool.
And while more HOV lanes like the province's one on Highway 97 are unlikely anytime soon, he says there's other things to look at, including lanes that change direction based on the time of day.