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Feds kick in funds for Rotary Trail extension

May 19, 2015 | 12:32 PM

The Rotary Trail is moving closer to completion, with $180,000 in construction scheduled for completion this year.

The extension will take the trail from its southwest end point at 32nd Street West up to the Alfred Jenkins Field House and the Victoria Hospital. The federal government is contributing $90,000 in matching funding through its National Trails Infrastructure Program.

The extension will add 1.45 kilometres (km) to a trail that already has 18 km completed. The work to build the trail began more than 12 years ago. It is now about four km away from completion.

Every time there’s an addition to the Rotary Trail, it’s exciting for Dave Fischl, the chair of the Prince Albert Rotary Trail Committee. He was a part of an announcement involving the committee, the City of Prince Albert and the federal government on Tuesday morning, strategically located at the point where the trail currently ends in the West Hill.

“We find that getting around the city has been tough at times but it’s always come together, and this is just proof that we’re still moving towards getting around the city.”

The committee contributed the initial $90,000, which qualified for the matching grant. Those funds were the result of donations from the Summit Run, B&B Asphalt and the Rotary Club.

For the past two years, the Summit Run has been donating funds to the trail project, and the Rotary Club donated $30,000 it generated from a previous Lobster Fest.

Fischl said the committee kept the money from these contributors, as well as the $50,000 from B&B Asphalt.

And with fewer kilometres left to be completed, Fischl hopes the trail will be finished within the next two years.

“The people that live here keep asking, you know, ‘when is the trail going to get done?’ And I think, you know, give it a year after that and, I can’t speak for council, but I can tell that the enthusiasm [for] getting this trail done is there and I think that we’re getting very, very close,” he said.

“I’m hoping that in two years from now, we can be out here on a beautiful day like today, saying ‘we’re done.’”

Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback on hand for the announcement said he is also looking forward to the trail’s completion. He mused that he’ll cycle along the trail with Fischl once the trail is completed.

Hoback was first introduced to the trail two years ago when he was training for an event.  He said he didn’t realize what was there until he started walking on it.

“It’s a great way to get out and exercise and relax and get some fresh air. The trail provides a lot of benefits that a lot of people don’t realize.”

He made the funding announcement on behalf of the federal government. He described the National Trails Infrastructure Program as a $10 million, two-year initiative which will help 150 to 200 trails.

“And it’s meant for projects just like this. This is a prime candidate for it. You know, what we want to do is get Canadians out in an active lifestyle, outside … walking, jogging, biking, walking the dog. Those things are activities that are so healthy and so helpful to Canadians.”

But the Tuesday announcement was exciting for Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne as well.

He called the trail a great benefit to the city. 

“A healthy community is a hardworking community. So, this is part of our smart health project, [which] is to get people to walk, run.”

And he expects the trail will also have economic trickle-down effects as well. To attract people to move to a community, it has to have amenities, he said.

But it will also draw events. The Summit Run will take place on the trail in June and there are more and more events booked to take place on the trail all the time, Dionne said.

“Once we can do a half a marathon, I think you are going to see more of those events come. So, it’s a big plus.”

The length of the completed trail would be enough for a half marathon. Fischl said the committee has been speaking with people interested in helping to make one happen.

“And I think there will be. I’m almost certain that there will be,” he said.

The work on the trail won’t be finished even after it is completed. Markers and signs are already being installed along the existing trail, but Fischl said there are other enhancements the committee would like to see made – as well as another extension.

“We said that once we got around the city, we’d like to go to Little Red (River Park). So, maybe there’s some opportunity to do something there.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames